Two more high profile championship bouts will be televised on ESPN in August, according to Dan Rafael of espn.com.
WBO Super Featherweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko will take on Miguel Marriaga on August 5th in Los Angeles, while Terence Crawford and Julius Indongo will meet for all four major belts in the 140-lb division on August 19th in Lincoln, Nebraska.
“ESPN is thrilled to bring these two new title fights to fans,” Burke Magnus, ESPN’s executive vice president of programming and scheduling, said Thursday. “There is a lot of buzz around boxing right now, and much of it centers around these two great champions — Lomachenko and Crawford. We are excited and proud to showcase these two great events on all of our platforms.”
Top Rank president Todd duBoef, who worked closely with Magnus to finalize the deal, was also excited about the exposure his two champions will get on ESPN.
“Pound for pound, no one can match the talent of Vasyl Lomachenko and Terence Crawford,” duBoef said. “They drew the best ratings on premium cable this year, and now everyone will be able to see them when they defend their world titles in all-action fights in August, live on ESPN.”
Lomachenko had hoped to face former two-division titleholder Orlando Salido in a rematch of Salido’s split-decision win in 2014 in Lomachenko’s second pro fight. However, after much discussion, Salido ultimately rejected an offer of $720,000, and Top Rank moved on to Marriaga for Lomachenko’s third title defense.
“When the financial requests were met suddenly there were other issues like a hand problem, which led to a weight problem, which led to Marriaga. Funny how that happens,” Top Rank vice president Carl Moretti said. “So we moved on to trying to secure the best possible opponent at the time, and Miguel Marriaga stepped up to the plate as did [previous Lomachenko opponents] Jason Sosa and Rocky Martinez in the past.”
“If you put Marriaga, Salido and Sosa in a round-robin, I think they’re all excellent fights, and who knows who would win,” Moretti said. “Obviously, Lomachenko is at a different level, but in the ring we know what Marriaga brings — heart, determination, a big right hand, size and no intimidation.”
“Indongo went to Russia to knock out Troyanovsky, and then he went to Scotland and beat Burns. Does he actually have the audacity to come to Nebraska and beat Crawford for the other two titles? We’ll find out Aug. 19.”
“The willingness and cooperation from all four organizations certainly reflects their concern and desire to do what’s right for the sport,” Moretti said.
