Vasiliy Lomachenko will be out of action for a while after it was revealed that he will undergo arthroscopic surgery for a torn labrum.
First reported by ESPN, Lomachenko will have surgery after he separated his shoulder during his fight against Jorge Linares on May 12 at Madison Square Garden. The surgery will take place on May 30 and it will be done by renowned orthopedic surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache at the Kerlan Jobe Orthopedic Clinic in Los Angeles.
"I couldn't use my right arm, throw my right hook, and it was very uncomfortable to continue my fight," Lomachenko told ESPN.
ElAttrache described the injury to ESPN as pretty extensive and if the surgery goes well, then Lomachenko could be back training sometime in October and fight again at the end of the year. Despite the hope that Lomachenko could be fighting again before the end of 2018, nothing has been set in stone, although promoter Bob Arum and Lomachenko manager Egis Klimas wants to have the three-time world champion fight in the main event of a December 8 Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card.
“A typical tear usually goes from about 2 o'clock if you're looking at the face of a clock down to about 6 o'clock. His goes almost all the way around. I would say he has significant instability of his right shoulder,” ElAttrache said.
After Lomachenko knocked out Linares in the 10th round to win the WBA lightweight title, Arum had been planning for Lomachenko to fight sometime in August, likely in a lightweight world title unification bout against WBO champion Raymundo Beltran. Lomachenko will continue to campaign as a lightweight after recently vacating his WBO super featherweight title. Lomachenko currently holds the record for winning a major world title in three weight classes in the least amount of pro fights, achieving the feat in his 12th fight.
