Vasyl Lomachenko's last fight at Madison Square Garden turned him into one of boxing's newest superstars and he could continue his momentum at the venue with his next fight.
Bob Arum spoke to Ring Magazine and said a rumored fight between Lomachenko and WBA lightweight champion Jorge Linares is still being negotiated and that Arum will be talking Akihiko Honda, who promotes Linares, on making the fight a reality. According to Ring Magazine, a fight date of May 12 at Madison Square Garden is being thrown around for Lomachenko vs. Linares. If the fight does happen, the publication's lightweight championship will be on the line.
Regardless of Linares getting to fight Lomachenko next, Linares will have a big fight coming up. Linares is ordered by the WBC to fight WBC champion Mikey Garcia, but with Garcia busy challenging for the IBF super lightweight title when he fights Sergey Lipinets in March, Linares has an open schedule to make the fight against Lomachenko possible.
Arum does have an exit strategy for Lomachenko if talks with Linares do not produce a fight soon. Arum said Lomachenko could fight Raymundo Beltran if he wins the vacant WBO lightweight title when he fights Paulus Moses on the February 16 Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card. Given the names Arum is searching to be Lomachenko's next opponent, there's a good chance that Lomachenko, the IBF super featherweight champion, could move up in weight to lightweight. Lomachenko last fought on December 9 at Madison Square Garden and defeated Guillermo Rigondeaux.
Lomachenko has also been linked to a possible showdown against Garcia and even a November superfight with Manny Pacquiao.
Fightful will have live coverage of Beltran vs. Moses which will be televised on ESPN.