Vasiliy Lomachenko Was Injured Entering Teofimo Lopez Fight, Manager Claims

Vasiliy Lomachenko didn’t enter his fight against Teofimo Lopez completely healthy.

According to Lomachenko’s manager, Egis Klimas, the former champion underwent shoulder surgery Monday. Klimas says the surgery was the result of both a preexisting ailment and an injury he suffered during the second round of his decision loss to Lopez.

“When he arrived to the States to prepare for the fight, he said in the Ukraine he felt the sharp pain in his right shoulder,” Klimas said to ESPN, who noted that an MRI didn’t reveal a significant injury to the shoulder. “We took him right away to Dr. ElAttrache to examine him.”

Lomachenko was given an injection six weeks before the fight to help with the shoulder injury. The manager also says they told the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association and the Nevada State Athletic Commission about the injury and injection to make sure it was all good.

“We lost one week of training. We lost one week of sparring because the doctor forbid him to do much for a week after the injection,” Klimas said.

How serious he was injured entering the fight is uncertain and we will likely never know how much it impacted him. Yet, it was obviously serious enough, and Lomachenko told his team he would not drop out of the fight despite his father wanting him to pull out. However, the former boxing champ said if he was forced to pull out of the fight he would retire.

When Vasiliy Lomachenko is completely healthy his manager is hoping they can get the rematch with Lopez to get his belts back.

“If it’s possible, we would like to have the rematch,” Klimas said. “If they are so tough … are they willing to come back and do that?”

Do you want to see Vasiliy Lomachenko vs. Teofimo Lopez 2?