4/12 ESPN+: Vasyl Lomachenko vs Anthony Crolla (WBA/WBO Lightweight Titles)

[patscorpio]

Pound-for-pound king Vasiliy Lomachenko will defend his unified lightweight world title against mandatory challenger Anthony Crolla on April 12 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles after their camps made a deal Tuesday night.

The deal for the fight, which will headline a Top Rank Boxing on ESPN+ card to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the launch of the network's streaming service, was made between Lomachenko promoter Top Rank and Crolla promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing one day before the promotional rights for the bout were set to be auctioned off at a purse bid at WBA headquarters in Panama City, Panama.

Top Rank vice president Carl Moretti said the card also will include the light heavyweight debut of super middleweight world titlist Gilberto "Zurdo" Ramirez.

"We thought Loma would be fighting Richard Commey, but because of his hand surgery, a small procedure on a ligament, the focus obviously moved to Loma fulfilling his mandatory against Crolla once that happened. We'll look to unify the titles with Commey afterward, in the late summer," Moretti told ESPN on Tuesday night, shortly after the deal with Crolla was made.

The Lomachenko-Crolla deal is not signed, but all the terms are agreed to and the paperwork is being drawn up, Moretti said.

"Loma wants all the titles at lightweight, and he wants to keep them and defend them," Moretti said.

Commey injured his right hand during his second-round knockout of Isa Chaniev to win a vacant 135-pound belt on Feb. 2 in Frisco, Texas, on the Eleider Alvarez-Sergey Kovalev II undercard. Commey and Chaniev each had previously signed to fight Lomachenko to unify their three belts pending a victory. Commey won but suffered the injury that would sideline him for at least six weeks, making him unavailable for April 12.

That put the focus on Crolla, who became one of Jorge Linares' mandatory challengers when Crolla won a unanimous decision over Daud Yordan on Nov. 10 in Crolla's hometown of Manchester, England.

Now Crolla, a heavy underdog, is headed for his first fight in the United States and only his second outside of the United Kingdom; he fought in Germany in 2008.

"It's a huge opportunity for Anthony Crolla," Hearn said. "He has earned his stripes, a former world champ who has fought the best. He won the final eliminator against Yordan in November, and I'm happy he gets this chance now. Lomachenko is a great talent, but Anthony is in great shape and ready for this chance."

In November 2015, Crolla (34-6-3, 13 KOs) won a lightweight world title by fifth-round knockout from Darleys Perez in Manchester in an immediate rematch of a draw four months earlier.

Crolla, 32, defended the title with a seventh-round knockout of Ismael Barroso, then lost it by decision to Linares in September 2016. Linares outpointed Crolla in an immediate rematch in March 2017, after which Crolla reeled off three wins in a row to earn the title shot against Lomachenko.

Lomachenko (12-1, 9 KOs), who turned 31 on Sunday, has won world titles in three weight classes. He moved up to lightweight and knocked out Linares in the 10th round in May to win a world title in his third division. On Dec. 8, Lomachenko, a two-time Olympic gold medalist from Ukraine, dropped Jose Pedraza twice in the 11th round en route to a unanimous decision victory to unify two belts.

Co-Main

Gilberto Ramirez’s foray into the light heavyweight division will pick up where he left off at super middleweight.

As previously reported by BoxingScene.com’s Ryan Burton, the unbeaten 168-pound titlist will make his light heavyweight debut on April 12 in Los Angeles. An opponent has now been assigned for the occasion, as Ramirez will face journeyman Tommy Karpency in a supporting bout to Vasiliy Lomachenko’s lightweight title defense versus Anthony Crolla.

The show will air live on ESPN+, marking the one-year anniversary of the platform launch.

Ramirez (39-0, 25KOs) rose to prominence on his way to claiming a title at super middleweight, with the 6’2½” southpaw from Mazatlan, Mexico hitting paydirt in an April ’16 win over Arthur Abraham to claim his first major title.

Five defenses have followed, none of which ever managed to separate the unbeaten 27-year old from the rest of the pack. A pair of wins over Philadelphia’s Jesse Hart were by far the best of his reign, which may or may not still be active pending an official ruling from the World Boxing Organization (WBO), whom previously claimed his title vacant.

Meanwhile, he will test the light heavyweight waters while mapping out the rest of his 2019 campaign. Given the opponent selection, it’s clear the preference is to dip his toe in the shallow end of the pool.

Regardless of how the remainder of his career plays out, Karpency (29-6-1, 18KOs) will get to claim to have twice fought for a major title. The Rust Belt-based light heavyweight long ago earned his reputation as a divisional gatekeeper, but struck gold after scoring a major upset win over former World light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson in Oct. ’14.

Karpency’s handlers wisely parlayed the opportunity into a shot at then-reigning 175-pound king Adonis Stevenson, with the June ’15 night ending in a one-sided knockout inside of three rounds. It was his second failed bid at a major title, having also suffered a points loss to then-unbeaten titlist Nathan Cleverly in Feb. ’12.

The 33-year old southpaw will enter his bout with Ramirez having won three straight versus confidence-building opposition since his last loss—a July ‘16 6th round stoppage at the hands of Oleksandr Gvozdyk, who now sits atop the light heavyweight division.

 

[Recca Gatsby]

We know how this gonna end.

 

[THE MACHINE]

@patscorpio a poll breh? Really??

 

[patscorpio]

@patscorpio a poll breh? Really??

I did say salido would beat lomachenko

 

[THE MACHINE]

I did say salido would beat lomachenko

Who you got in this one?

 

[patscorpio]

Who you got in this one?

lomachenko..though i will be rooting for the upset fukkery

 

[THE MACHINE]

lomachenko..though i will be rooting for the upset fukkery

me too, we need that Gary Russell run back

 

[newarkhiphop]

In

 

[OC's finest]

me too, we need that Gary Russell run back

Wanna see him vs garcia

 

[patscorpio]

Bob Arum: The Lomachenko-Crolla Fight Got Shoved Up Our Ass

By Keith Idec

Anthony Crolla clearly wasn’t the opponent Bob Arum had in mind for Vasiliy Lomachenko’s next fight.

Lomachenko’s promoter had designs on matching the WBA “super” lightweight champion against IBF champ Richard Commey in a 135-pound title unification fight. When Commey suffered a hand injury during his second-round knockout of Isa Chaniev on February 2, a doctor prescribed Commey two months of physical therapy and rest.

That pushed back a Lomachenko-Commey bout and left Lomachenko (12-1, 9 KOs) to instead accept a fight against England’s Crolla (34-6-3, 13 KOs), the mandatory challenger for his title. They’ll fight Friday night at Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Numerous Internet sports books list Lomachenko as a 100-1 favorite over the former WBA world lightweight champion in a fight ESPN+ will stream.

“The fight got shoved up our ass, with the mandatory, and thanks to our friend, Eddie Hearn, who thought he’d go to purse bid and have Lomachenko fight at least one time on DAZN,” Arum told BoxingScene.com, referring to Crolla’s promoter and the streaming serving with which Hearn works. “We disabused him because we told him that would be the start of a war that they couldn’t win [with ESPN]. And sanity prevailed. We overpaid for Crolla, and that’s what you’re gonna see on Friday night.

“That being said, Crolla, while not the most seasoned guy, is a tough Englishman who was a world champion. And he’s gonna try his ass off to win. It should be an enjoyable fight. But it’s certainly not the fight, given our druthers, that we would’ve made.”

The only way Lomachenko could’ve avoided the Crolla fight would’ve been to give up the WBA lightweight title he won by knocking out Jorge Linares in the 10th round last May 12 at Madison Square Garden in New York. The two-time Olympic gold medalist is adamant about attempting to win all of boxing’s recognized lightweight titles, thus Arum didn’t even try to persuade the three-division champion to vacate that title.

“You’ve gotta understand that my guy Lomachenko is an eastern European,” Arum said. “They love to pile up titles, they love to unify and they don’t like to give up belts. There was no chance I could convince him to walk away.”

at bob copping pleas....you know a fight is not it when the promoter is publicly juelzing over it..lomachenko has his stans but not one peep from them about this fight

 

[patscorpio]

man this shyt is starting late...11 pm EST

 

[aceboon]

 

[patscorpio]

Lomachenko Weigh-In Moves To Assist Nipsey Hussle Funeral

By Gilbert Manzano

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum confirmed that the Vasiliy Lomachenko-Anthony Crolla weigh-in on Thursday was initially booked for Staples Center, but moved to the North Plaza at Los Angeles Convention Center to accommodate Nipsey Hussle’s memorial services.

Hussle, the late rapper and community activist, was fatally shot on March 31. Free tickets for the public memorial service at Staples Center were sold out in less than an hour. Yahoo! Sports first reported the venue change for the boxing weigh-in.

“They asked us, Staples Center, said, ‘You’re entitled to the facility for the weigh-in, but we have this memorial service and the community wanted the memorial service at Staples Center, would you be willing to move it?’ And we said, ‘Of course,’” Arum said.

“It was not even a question because the community deserved to have a place like the Staples Center for a memorial service, and we would never stand in the way. That wasn’t even a question. Of course we were happy to accommodate.”

According to Arum, Maverick Carter, the longtime business manager for Lakers star LeBron James, called Todd duBoef, the president of Top Rank, about releasing the venue for Hussle’s funeral.

“We got a call from LeBron James’ manager, Maverick Carter, and of course we would accommodate them,” Arum said. “Todd and Maverick Carter know each other very well. They both have houses in Aspen, so they’re friends, so it was easy to do.”

The event officially known as “Nipsey Hussle’s Celebration of Life” is scheduled to run from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Thursday. The Lomachenko-Crolla weigh-in is scheduled for a 1 p.m. start at the nearby convention center.

Lomachenko will defend his WBO and WBA lightweight titles against Crolla at Staples Center on Friday. The main card is scheduled to air on ESPN+ at 11 p.m. EST/8 p.m. PST.

 

[patscorpio]

 

[Apollo Creed]

What time is the main event? Like 11 est?