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Stevenson Says Lomachenko is Ducking Him: Just Vacate The Title and Retire
NEWS
Manouk Akopyan
Manouk Akopyan
RingMagazine.com
Stevenson Says Lomachenko is Ducking Him: Just Vacate The Title and Retire
The sand in the hourglass of Vasiliy Lomachenko’s career is nearly gone.

It remains unclear if the Ukrainian three-division champion and current IBF lightweight crown holder will continue his career.

The last time Lomachenko was in the ring was on May 12 when he scored an 11th-round stoppage win against George Kambosos Jr. for the belt he now possesses. But Loma has been noncommittal about continuing his career ever since, as he opted not to pursue a fight against Gervonta Davis in November.

Lomachenko’s career-long manager Egis Klimas and promoter in Top Rank boss Bob Arum are also unaware if the 37-year-old southpaw will ever lace up a pair of gloves again.

In addition to the WBA lightweight title holder Davis losing out on the chance for a dance with Lomachenko, WBC champion Shakur Stevenson – Lomachenko’s longtime promotional stablemate at Top Rank – also never got the opportunity to face a fighter he both admired and called out for years on end.

Immediately following his July win against Artem Harutyunyan, the last fight of his Top Rank deal, Stevenson wore a Lomachenko-inspired shirt that read: “Bob is saving his son from this ass whooping.”

“With the Loma fight, I kind of looked up to Lomachenko,” Stevenson said on The Ring podcast. “I’ll be honest. I had a certain look up to Lomachenko. He was that guy for me. For him to really be something like a duck, like he doesn't really want to fight me, it just kind of made me look at him a little bit differently. Truthfully, I still think he had a hell of a career. He was a legend, but I still think he ducked me.

“With Tank, I always knew that with him being a big superstar, it’s going to happen on his time. It’s not going to be on my time. I’m going to call for it. I’m going to say his name, however, he gets mad, but truthfully, it’s on his time. It’s when he says, ‘Let’s fight.’”

Stevenson (23-0, 11 KOs) is coming off a February title defense and a ninth-round stoppage win against late-replacement opponent Josh Padley in Saudi Arabia.

Earlier this week, Klimas spoke with The Ring and said a fight against Davis was the preference for Lomachenko instead of Stevenson.

“[Davis] a much better fighter I think,” Klimas told The Ring. “Shakur, I’m not gonna take anything from Shakur. Shakur is a very good fighter but he’s a bumper. He goes in a shell, he runs away. Tank comes to fight. More interesting fight. Much more intriguing fight.”

Stevenson labeled Lomachenko not wanting to fight him as “disappointing.”

“He went and won the title and he's just sitting with the title and holding it,” said Stevenson. “For what reason? If you are planning on never making the fight and showing a lack of motivation for being in the sport, what are you doing? What is going on? Just drop the belt and vacate the title. Why hasn't he retired?”

Manouk Akopyan is a lead writer for The Ring. He can be reached on X and Instagram @ManoukAkopyan.

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