By Norm Frauenheim-
Teofimo Lopez calls it The Takeover. Promoter Bob Arum might have another description for it.
Call it The Comeback, or at the least the beginning of one.
The Lopez-Vasiliy Lomachenko fight is a biggie in any time. It includes all of the elements necessary to create a classic. There’s Lopez’ power. There’s Lomachenko’s off-the-chart skillset. There’s just the right amount of tension between the two for some essential drama. The stakes include pound-for-pound bragging rights. Even what’s missing is an addition. There’s no pay-per-view price tag attached to the ESPN telecast.
It’s all there, a buzz in the bubble, in a fight for a unified lightweight title next week Saturday (October 17) at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand.
But there’s something else, too.
Lopez-Lomachenko takes on some added significance because of when it’s happening. It’s a milestone fight, perhaps historical for what it will say about how boxing can fight its way out of a Pandemic from hell.
“This is the biggest fight of the year,’’ Arum said this week during back-to-back Zoom sessions, first with Lopez and then Lomachenko.
We might have already witnessed the Fight of the Year – junior-welterweight Jose Zepeda’s stoppage of Ivan Baranchyk over five furious rounds and eight knockdowns last Saturday.
Zepeda-Baranchyk was spontaneous combustion. Who knew? Lopez-Lomachenko has been in the forefront of fans’ collective imagination for a while. It also been at the top of the business agenda. It offers a way back. A big part of the promotion includes 250 of those fans who will be allowed into the so-called bubble.
They will include first-responders, as well as friends and family of each fighter, in socially-distanced seats. No tickets are for sale. All COVID protocols will be enforced, Arum said.
In effect, it’s a test run, a hope and a look at how to take the next step. Boxing will only survive with live gates, paying customers instead of cardboard cutouts.
“Two-hundred-and-fifty people are better than no people at all,’’ says Lopez, who understands his COVID math.
A small crowd without infection on Saturday can lead to bigger crowds, bigger purses and the big fights that looked to be inevitable, pre-Pandemic.
“Absolutely, this is a trial run,’’ said Arum, who has been working closely with Nevada and the state’s Athletic Commission. “We hope this will lead to when we can have paying customers.’’
Specifically, Arum mentioned Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium, the Raiders’ brand new NFL address. Arum has hoped to stage Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder 3 at Allegiant. Like so much else during the Pandemic, however, the proposed second rematch has bounced around the calendar more often than Zepeda and Baranchyk were on the canvas.
Sometime in December appears to be the best hope for a fight that had been scheduled for July and then October. Put it this way: It’s a fight searching for a live gate big enough to pay the heavyweight purses. Fifteen-to-20,000 paying customers in socially-distanced seats might do it.
Much depends, however, on what Arum can’t control. The virus moves at its own unpredictable pace. It appears to be spiking all over again in some places.
But the pragmatic Arum promises to be ready. He’s not expecting a miracle, a day when COVID just disappears.
“Who the hell knows when we’ll get a vaccine,’’ he said. “One step at a time.’’
Lopez-Lomachenko is as good a step as any.
