Manager of the former holder of three titles in lightweight (up to 61.2 kg) Ukrainian Vasily Lomachenko (17-2, 11 KOs) Egis Klimas in
interview for the British media, he commented on the last duel of Vasily against the American prospect Jemaine Ortiz (16-1-1, 8 KOs).
Klimas spoke about expectations before the fight, dispelled the opinion about Lomachenko’s intentionally weak performance, commented on the organization of the fight for the title of absolute division champion against American Devin Haney (29-0, 15 KOs), and also spoke about the possible return of Vasily to the second featherweight (up to 59 kg).
Vasily Lomachenko was successful in the fight with Jemaine Ortiz, but the fight turned out to be more competitive than people thought. What do you think about the current Vasily in the ring?
We knew it wouldn’t be an easy fight. We knew Ortiz would go ahead. He is hungry, he is young, very motivated. He was in one of Vasily’s camps. He came to sparring, helped Loma prepare. When we planned the fight, the question arose – who will we fight? Loma said he’s fought every veteran already, there are no more ex-champs, let me fight the toughest prospect available. And Jemaine Ortiz was after the victory over Herring, and so he appeared on our horizon. We requested this fight from Top Rank and the fight was done.
– Before and after this fight, there was talk about a potential fight for the title of undisputed champion against Devin Haney. I saw Lomachenko comment that he would agree to a rematch and do whatever it takes to make this fight. Are you sure we will see Haney vs Lomachenko next?
At the moment, I would say yes. Because everyone is working on it. I know Devin wants this fight, his dad wants this fight, Loma wants this fight, Top Rank wants this fight. So everyone wants this fight. Why shouldn’t it happen.
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“A lot of people on social media have said that Loma was unconvincing against Jemaine Ortiz. Once Oleksandr Usyk rose higher and did not show a convincing performance against Derek Chisora. Although he won then, he gave people hope that he was not so good. Is this the same case with Lomachenko? Did he do it on purpose to give Devin Haney hope that he could take this fight and beat him now?
“When someone like Ortiz comes at you, you don’t think about the fact that Haney is watching your fight right now. You’re thinking about how to win. So these social networks are just a lot of chatter. Half of them don’t know shit what they’re talking about. People who say that, let them get in the ring and try to look good or look bad. If it were that easy, everyone would do it.
– Vasily spoke about returning to the second featherweight in the near future. Do you expect this to be the next step, or do you think he will stay at lightweight?
“Right now, the title of undisputed lightweight champion is at stake. When the team achieves this goal, when Lomachenko reaches this goal, then we will see what happens next.
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