Ukraine star Vasily Lomachenko has given up his chance to regain his lightweight world titles against George Kambosos, to defend his country against the Russia invasion.
Lomachenko will remain in his home country of Ukraine and assist in the war effort instead of leaving for training camp, which he would have had to have done in the coming days under the terms of the fight contract.
Lomachenko’s manager Egis Klimas reportedly reached out to the Kambosos camp last night to inform them that the star boxer had declined to take the fight which was being planned for June 5 on ESPN at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne.
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It’s understood the Ukrainian government gave Lomachenko the green light to leave the country, despite it being under martial law, but the boxer opted to stay behind and help his countrymen against the unprovoked attack.
Lomachenko’s promoter, Bob Arum of Top Rank, told Fight Freaks Unite, the 34-year-old is stationed near the Black Sea port city of Odessa, and the former unified champion is in “very much harm’s way”.
“The Russians are firing rockets from ships at Odessa. It’s major port,” Arum said.
“From the standpoint of what he did it was very courageous and I can understand completely why he did it.
“From the standpoint of pure boxing I’m disappointed because it was an opportunity to win back all the titles and it was gonna be a massive fight, and it’s not gonna happen.
“But certainly I sympathise completely with Lomachenko. I understand what his position is. It was a very courageous position and I blame only one person for this whole travesty and that’s (Russian president Vladimir) Putin.”
American WBC champion Devin Haney has now been offered to take the fight on the same terms that Lomachenko accepted, and is expected to sign on.
“You were offered [the fight] months ago & you played around,” Kambosos tweeted at Haney.
“In the meantime the great man Vasiliy Lomachenko made it very simple to do anything to make it happen & it was a done deal. But Loma now has a bigger fight [at the moment] which I totally respect so let’s see how much of your word is true.”
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