The return of former unified lightweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko to activity immediately puts him on the lightweight map, and both the Ukrainian and Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz are emerging as mandatory challengers for the WBC, as revealed by the council president Mauricio Sulaimán.
“Lomachenko has great opportunities to be the next challenger”, Sulaiman told the media. “And Pitbull Cruz.”
Right now, the boxing fandom is looking forward to this Sunday when Devin Haney, the undisputed 135-pound champion, takes the rematch against George Kambosos. Along with the result of that fight, the WBC Annual Convention will determine what happens in one of the most competitive divisions in boxing at present.
“In the convention, we will see the issue of the mandatory, the eliminatory, everything that comes,” Sulaiman went on, “But he (Cruz) is already very close to a world championship fight.”
Asked if Lomachenko and Pitbull themselves could play a tie, he did not confirm it, but said “it is a possibility.”
In case Haney retains his titles successfully this Sunday, Sulaiman did not give any word on what would happen with his next title defense. Instead, he stated that everything would be seen in Acapulco, Mexico when the council conducts its 60th annual convention.
“Each division is analyzed, you see what commitment there is. Haney and Kambosos was not mandatory, we would have to see when the last mandatory of the division was and from there we started,” Sulaiman added.
Loma and Pitbull could meet in a bout, and Kambosos is the one forced against Haney for the rematch fight, and Sulaiman opines that it is the Aussie who will be the one under pressure, after what happened in the first fight against Haney
“Kambasos (has the pressure)”, Sulaiman asserted, “Haney put him on display, dominated him, gave him a boxing lesson at his house. The pressure is on Kambosos, it’s to win or to win.”
