Top Rank has signed two time Olympic Gold medal winner Vasyl Lomachenko to a promotional contract according to Dan Rafael of espn.com
“The contract is signed, and we are ecstatic about it,” Top Rank vice president Carl Moretti told ESPN.com. “You couple this with our signings of [other top 2012 Olympians] Felix Verdejo, Oscar Valdez and Jose Ramirez and this makes it a grand slam.”
“I am very excited and happy with the Top Rank offer and signing the contract,” Lomachenko said in a statement given to ESPN.com. “I know I will have to prove I am the best and make history in pro boxing, but I have no doubts about it as I did in the amateurs and I will do it as a pro.
“(Top Rank chairman) Bob Arum knows how to build champions and I know how to fight. This will make for a good team. I am happy finally that all negotiations are over and I can concentrate on my training and start preparing for my first fight on Oct. 12.”
“He is one of the most heralded amateurs to go professional in many years,” Top Rank president Todd duBoef told ESPN.com. “He’s one of those guys some people thought might stay amateur because he’s such an icon in his country. But he wanted a professional career and wants to be on the fast track. He wants to go for a 10-round fight and go to a world title fight immediately after that. He has that much confidence in his ability.
“There’s not going to be much development with him. He feels he is fully developed. He’s ready to go.”
Moretti said no opponent has been lined up for Lomachenko’s Oct. 12 fight but said it would be “an established, 10-round, world-ranked fighter.”
As for Lomachenko’s potential, Moretti called it “limitless.”
“It’s almost like he’s already a pro with his experience,” Moretti said. “I don’t think this is your normal pro debut. This is a throwback to the [U.S.] Olympians of 1976 and 1984, when they were fighting established guys in their first few fights, guys like Sugar Ray Leonard, Leon and Michael Spinks, Evander Holyfield, Meldrick Taylor, Pernell Whitaker. This guy has those kind of amateur credentials.
“He looks like he can do it all. He can punch, he can box, he has endurance. I think he can adapt to any style that comes at him, and mentally he’s as strong as any top contender right now.”
“Because of his amateur credentials, he will fight 10-round opponents, and a world title fight could come very, very soon, certainly less than 10 fights,” Moretti said. “I love it. I think he really reminds me of those ’76 and ’84 Olympians, where you are not handpicking opponents but just trying to get top guys to fight him because you know he can handle anything.”
“I want to fight the best in the world,” Lomachenko told the AP.
“He wants to become a pound-for-pound champion,” siad advisor Egis Klimas. “He doesn’t want to be on a long track. He wants to fight for a title soon. If we could get a champion today, we would like to fight the champion today. He wants to make something special.”
