Just when everything seemed to be going smoothly and fans were eagerly awaiting the official announcement of a world lightweight unification super fight between Gervonta Davis and Vasyl Lomachenko, a cold shower hit.
Renowned American journalist Steve Kim reported on social media an excerpt from a conversation he had with Lomachenko’s manager, Egis Klimas, who reportedly confided the following words to him:
“Loma is not in the mood right now, he doesn’t have the motivation at the moment. He’s taking off, he wants to spend more time with the family. He doesn’t want to do anything till the end of the year. “So he’s definitely not coming to the ring till the end of the year.”
The fact that a fight against Davis would guarantee the Ukrainian a very substantial purse won’t make a difference in his decision, according to Klimas:
“With Loma, just money is not what motivates him. He doesn’t take anything just because of money. You can offer him millions, tens of millions of dollars — if he doesn’t have motivation, he’s not ready to prepare for the fight.”
Klimas specified that Loma has not expressed any intention of retiring. In any case, if his wishes are confirmed, Gervonta Davis will have to look around for a different opponent to share the ring with in the second half of 2024. A realistic possibility could be a rematch against Isaac Cruz, currently the WBA super lightweight world champion, who narrowly lost to Davis on points in 2021.