Arum: Loma-Garcia negotiations could be new May-Pac

With Vasyl Lomachenko now a lightweight titleholder of sorts, winning the WBA “world” title from Jorge Linares this past Saturday in New York, the question now is what he does next.

The fight everyone wants to see is one against WBC lightweight titleholder Mikey Garcia (38-0, 30 KO), who recently won and surrendered a 140-pound title to remain at 135 for the time being.

Garcia and Lomachenko are top pound-for-pound fighters, but Garcia has a history with Top Rank that figures to make the fight hard to make, and Bob Arum admits as much:

“With a Mikey Garcia [fight], it becomes the second coming of Mayweather vs Pacquiao. The negotiations will go on — I may be 90-years-old by the time negotiations finish. I’m tired of that. Whoever’s the best available, whichever makes the most sense, that’s what we’re gonna go after.”

Top Rank has an in-house option in WBO lightweight titleholder Ray Beltran (35-7-1, 21 KO), who would be easier to make a fight with and might be the most attractive and simple option for Lomachenko (11-1, 9 KO) right now.

Basically, it seems like hoping for Garcia-Lomachenko is a fool’s errand — at least for the time being.