Vasiliy Lomachenko's first fight since undergoing surgery will be a lightweight unification fight and a return to New York.
According to Mike Coppinger of Ring Magazine, Lomachenko, the WBA's lightweight champion, will face WBO titleholder Jose Pedraza in a bout to unify the two titles. The fight will headline a Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card from The Theater at Madison Square Garden on December 8.
This will be the first fight for Lomachenko after having surgery to fix a torn labrum on his right shoulder. Lomachenko, who has won titles in three weight classes, suffered the injury during his May fight against Jorge Linares when Lomachenko knocked out Linares to win the WBA title.
Pedraza won his second career world title when he defeated Raymundo Beltran in the main event of a Top Rank card back in August. The original plan was for Lomachenko to fight Beltran in August, but with the WBA champion still recovering at the time, Pedraza eventually got the nod to fight for the world title.
The Top Rank broadcast will come immediately after ESPN's presentation of college football's Heisman Trophy, which will serve as a major lead-in to one of the network's biggest main events of the year. The Heisman Trophy ceremony is also taking place in New York and at the request of ESPN, the Top Rank card was moved from its original venue at The Forum in Los Angeles to MSG. This will be the third straight fight Lomachenko has fought at Madison Square Garden in the main event.
