Gervonta Davis vs. Vasiliy Lomachenko Dead, Killed By Lomachenko

So, would you call this Gervonta “Tank” Davis over Vasiliy Lomachenko via TKO 0?

Word came out Friday that the Ukraine’s Lomachenko is not interested in facing Davis, despite hot rumors that the bout was close to being in the planning stage. Lomachenko’s promoter Bob Arum had even floated a potential fight date in November and had tossed around a couple of potential venues in Las Vegas to stage the pay-per-view mega-bout.

But, alas, no.

Lomachenko’s manager Egis Klimas told writer Steve Kim that his client just wasn’t interested in fighting Tank at the moment.

Per statement relayed through Kim’s Twitter/X account:

“Loma is not in the mood right now, he doesn’t have the motivation at the moment. He’s taking off, he wants to spend more time with the family. He doesn’t want to do anything till the end of the year.

So he’s definitely not coming to the ring till the end of the year. With Loma, just money is not what motivates him. He doesn’t take anything just because of money. You can offer him millions, tens of millions of dollars – if he doesn’t have motivation, he’s not ready to prepare for the fight.”

The 36-year-old Lomachenko is a three-division world champ and a two-time Olympic gold medalist. In his most recent bout, this past May, he stopped former three-belt lightweight champ George Kambosos Jr. to win the vacant IBF lightweight title.

The idea of a Davis-Lomachenko bout has been tossed around for years, beginning when Davis first emerged as a main stage presence and Lomachenko was already a two-division world champ. The fight was not right to be made then and it continued to not materialize over the years as Davis established himself as an elite-level fighter. The 29-year-old Tank has since earned his way to top-tier star status and recognition as the top American draw on the US boxing scene.

The thought was that now, with Davis needing a big-ticket opponent and Arum needing a big-ticket event as his Top Rank deal with ESPN runs its course, the timing would be right for some cooperation. It seemed to be there…until Lomachenko halted everyone’s plans.

And these don’t appear to be the thoughts of a man firmly intent upon resting up in preparation for a big boxing comeback.

“If Lomachenko can’t get motivated by getting a chance at being the face of boxing his team need to hang his gloves to where he can never reach them again. He’s done,” responded Davis’ coach Kenny Ellis via social media shortly after the news broke.

Close observers may have seen this coming. Lomachenko famously told media, after his win over Kambosos, that he basically just took that bout for the sake of his father.

“After this fight with Haney, I proved to myself in this sport and I don’t need to continue,” he told reporters. “But my father, every day, he sends me news, and every time, he sends highlights. I feel he wants to continue and wants a title again.

“He told me, ‘We need to do one more time this one. We need to fight again for title.’ It was a hard decision for me because I’m tired. But I love my family, I respect my father. My father built me in boxing and in life. This is a title, this is a win for my father.”

The “Lomachenko is not in the mood” news means that Davis will now have to look elsewhere for a bankable pay-per-view opponent. There will also have to be decisions made when it comes to Lomachenko and whether he’s going to defend that world title he picked up in May.