Vasiliy Lomachenko Undergoes Shoulder Surgery After Lopez Loss

On Saturday, Vasiliy Lomachenko lost his lightweight championship belts to Teofimo Lopez by unanimous decision. On Monday, the former champion underwent shoulder surgery that will keep him out of training until early next year.

Lomachenko previously had surgery on his right shoulder in 2018.

Lomachenko Lost Training Time Due to Injury

According to Lomachenko’s manager, Egis Klimas, the surgery will deal with a pre-existing condition from before Saturday’s fight, though Lomachenko further damaged his shoulder during the second round of the loss.

“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 told ESPN. “We took him right away to Dr. [Neal] ElAttrache to examine him.”

Lomachenko took an injection to deal with the pain about six weeks before the fight.

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

Klimas says that while Lomachenko’s father wanted to back out of the fight, the boxer pressed on, saying that he would retire if he bailed on the bout.

Lopez (16-0, 12 KOs) dominated the first half of Saturday’s bout, showing not only more size and power than Lomachenko (14-2, 10 KOs), but also taking a technically savvy approach that few thought would work against the man many ranked as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

The course of the fight changed dramatically in the seventh round, however. From that point, Lomachenko started finding angles to land combinations and work from the inside. Many observers had the fight close or dead even heading into the final two rounds. Lomachenko continued to control the action in the 11th round, but Lopez finished the fight emphatically, landing hard shots several times to take the 12th.

Lopez on Rematch: ‘For What?’

Some unofficial cards ended with the bout drawn at 114-114, while others gave Lopez a narrow win. In the end, all three judges saw Lopez as the clear winner, with the cards reading 116-112, 117-111, and 119-109.

Lomachenko came into the fight as a significant favorite. PointsBet listed him as a -455 favorite over Lopez (+325).

Unlike many major title unification bouts, the Lomachenko vs. Lopez contract didn’t include a rematch clause for the eventual loser. Afterward, Lopez said he’s not interested in a second fight between the two.

“For what?” Lopez told TMZ when asked about a potential rematch. “I beat him and everyone wants me to do it again. For what? I beat him not only at his own game, but being off for 10 months against the guy that everybody said was pound-for-pound. I think everybody is upset, the ones that do want this rematch.”

While that may be Lopez’s take for now, the Lomachenko camp hopes the new unified lightweight champion will come back to the table.

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