Vasiliy Lomachenko tells Sky Sports that he fully intends to hold Teofimo Lopez accountable for all the talk he’s been doing leading into the big unification fight on ESPN. So when asked about what he thinks of Lopez’s bravado, Lomachenko responded:
“I understand just one thing. Whatever you say, you must prove it in the ring. That’s it. In my country, if you insult somebody, you’d better be prepared for them to hurt you. If we were back in my country, he would learn pretty quickly that he can’t run his mouth like that.
“Whatever I say, I believe in it. So what he’s saying, for example, he actually believes. But if he doesn’t follow it up with actions and fulfil those words, then he chose those words poorly to begin with.”
After going on to say that he’s not planning on showing any mercy to Lopez once he gets the opportunity to inflict damage, Lomachenko also admits that some of what Lopez has said is true, so far as him being an older fighter and having some wear and tear on his body. That said, Lomachenko says he’s had adequate time off and he’s feeling physically fresh and ready to go.
This fight puts Lomachenko one step closer to his goal, which is to unify the lightweight division and put a solid stamp on his legacy. As far as Lomachenko is concerned, this is an opportunity to that he doesn’t want to pass up, saying he intends to do something special in this outing.