To the dismay of boxing fans across the globe, the highly anticipated 2024 fight between Gervonta “Tank” Davis and Vasiliy Lomachenko is off.
The two sides were attempting to agree on a deal that would unify lightweight titles, but according to ESPN’s Mike Coppinger, an official involved with the negotiations said that Lomachenko called the negotiations off to rest for the rest of the year.
Lomachenko’s manager, Egis Klimas explained that the star boxer had no interest in boxing again this year.
“Loma is not in the mood right now. He doesn’t have the motivation at the moment. He’s taking off,” said Klimas. “He wants to spend time with his family. With Loma, just money is not what motivates him.”
The fight was set to be, arguably, the biggest fight of the year as they are two of the best in both the lightweight division and in the world.
Gervonta Davis is 29 years old and widely recognized as one of the best pound-for-pound boxers in the world. The WBA Lightweight title holder remains undefeated (30-0, 28 KOs) after KOing Frank Martin in June.
Lomachenko, 36, is the IBF lightweight champion with a record of 18-3 with 12 KOs. His last fight was in May where he knocked out George Kambosos to claim the IBF title.
So now that this fight has been put off until 2025, what’s next for Tank?
There are many opponents he could fight including fellow lightweights William Zepeda and Shakur Stevenson. Or he could choose to move up and take on Devin Haney, Teofimo Lopez or rematch Issac Cruz.
If Tank and PBC want a big fight to end the year, they should call Devin Haney, who is coming off a no-contest against Ryan Garcia in one of the strangest events in recent boxing memory. Shakur, who has had words with Davis in the past, would be a great opponent but he hasn’t fought a big name yet, so the hype wouldn’t be as strong as of yet.
Teofimo would be an interesting fight for Tank to take. At 21-1, Lopez is a great fighter who’s also battle tested having fought Loma (W) and Kambosos (L). These two have had discussions and tension has built between them, but many wonder if the politics of boxing will interfere as it always seems to do.
All of these potential opponents are great fighters and would make for great fights, but a fight with Loma would have topped them all.
So now Tank and his team are left searching for the next big fight in 2024.
