Nov. 07--Vasyl Lomachenko has two gold medals and a world title. Now he just needs a big-name opponent.
The Ukrainian will defend his featherweight championship Saturday night against Mexico's Romulo Koasicha (25-4, 15 knockouts) in the co-main event of the HBO-televised card headlined by Timothy Bradley versus Brandon Rios.
Lomachenko (4-1, two knockouts) is accompanied by high praise as he returns to HBO, six months after he received massive undercard exposure in a prelim to the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Manny Pacquiao bout on May 2.
The World Boxing Organization champion also dealt fellow champion Gary Russell Jr. his lone defeat, with Lomachenko's only loss in five fights coming against veteran Orlando Salido, who was overweight for the bout.
"Lomachenko will be the consensus pound-for-pound best in the world in a year or two years," said his veteran promoter, Bob Arum. "I've never been so high on a fighter. I was high on Oscar [De La Hoya] and Floyd, but [they were] a work in progress."
Arum said he expects an impressive slew of opponents to emerge in 2016 for Lomachenko, including Guillermo Rigondeaux, Nonito Donaire or perhaps Salido or Nicholas Walters.
Through an interpreter, Lomachenko gave The Times a brief post-weigh-in interview Friday. He began by saying he's looking forward to showing fight fans why he's nicknamed "Hi-Tech."
"There are many fighters I can fight now. Whoever my promoters pick, I'm ready now," he said, adding that a demanding 2016 is "what I hope for."
He lamented that "a lot of time has passed since my last fight," and Arum said he did his best.
"He understands professional boxing," Arum said. "Given his desire for a bigger fight and not fighting, he prefers to fight. He understands it's a business."
Arum said he'll pursue Cuba's complex former super-bantamweight champion Rigondeaux (15-0) as an opponent "whenever we can get [him] into the ring at a reasonable [financial] number."
If not, Donaire has expressed willingness to take the fight following a December date.
"The message is out. Everybody realizes what a gem we have here," Arum said. "Sometimes, you bring fighters from Eastern Europe and it takes people years to accept them. How many years did [unbeaten middleweight champion Gennady] Golovkin fight before people said he was special?
"With this kid, because of his amateur background and his body of work, people are already talking. That gives us a big running start."
