Unified lightweight champion Vasiliy Lomachenko is heading to Los Angeles for his next fight against mandatory challenger Anthony Crolla.
Terms for the fight have been officially agreed with promoter Eddie Hearn confirming the bout, for the WBA and WBO lightweight titles, will take place on April 12. The fight will headline a boxing card streamed on ESPN+ from the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Delighted to agree terms for @ant_crolla v @VasylLomachenko for the @WBABoxing World title with @trboxing @espn - April 12 Staples Center - more news soon! ---- ---- @SkySportsBoxing @CarlMoretti
— Eddie Hearn (@EddieHearn) February 20, 2019
Lomachenko was set to fight on April 12, but the original plan called for the unified champion to fight newly-crowned IBF champion Richard Commey. Commey won the title on February 2 in Texas, but suffered an injury during his quick title win over Isa Chaniev. The injury would keep Commey from getting ready in time for April, leaving Lomachenko without an opponent.
Crolla is the mandatory challenger for Lomachenko's WBA title and a purse bid had been set for the two boxers, but the WBA granted an exception for its lightweight champion to unify with Commey so long as the fight would take place in April. With Commey out of commission for the time being, Crolla was the next man in line to fight Lomachenko.
This will be Lomachenko's third straight fight as a lightweight. His lightweight debut saw him defeat Jorge Linares in May 2018 to win the WBA title. After undergoing surgery to repair a torn labrum, Lomachenko, who is ranked as the No. 1 pound-for-pound boxer by Fightful, returned last December to defeat Jose Pedraza to unify the WBA and WBO titles at Madison Square Garden.
The 32-year-old Crolla previously held the WBA lightweight title from 2015 to 2016. Crolla lost his title to Linares in September 2016 and would lose the rematch as well in March 2017. Since those two defeats, Crolla won his last three fights, including a win over Daud Yordan in a title eliminator last November.
