Why Hasn’t Vasyl Lomachenko Gone Pro?
Do the Klitschko brothers need to start preparing for the onslaught of new Ukrainian talent? For the present things are well and good for the heavyweight champions, but another Ukrainian prospect is already stealing their thunder. Everyone’s talking about Vasyl Lomachenko, the 22 year old featherweight considered by most to be the best amateur fighter in the world.
To get it out of the way, there is little doubt this guy’s the real deal. In the 2007 World Amateur Boxing Championships he won a silver medal. He followed that up with a sensational performance at the 2008 Beijing Olympics that earned him gold. If that wasn’t enough, he took a second gold medal at the 2009 WABCs. In Beijing, Lomachenko outscored his opponents 58-13, and was subsequently awarded the Val Barker trophy, given to the most outstanding fighter of the Olympics.
In the last fifty years, there’s only been one big-name professional to accomplish such a feat: Roy Jones Jr., back in 1988, and we all recognize the astounding success his time in the pros have been. So the obvious question is why, at 22, Lomachenko still hasn’t gone pro (Roy Jones Jr. did at 20)?
The boxing world has become a complicated place. Lomachenko’s trainer and father, Anatoly, reportedly told Vasyl to remain at the amateur level until his body finishes developing. As Vasyl explained, “I wanted to go pro, but my father stopped me. He said that we should wait until the body is fully formed, and I reach an age where my body stops growing and then I can finish my amateur career.”
This explanation would seem authentic if it wasn’t so patently unbelievable. As everybody in the boxing world knows, bodies don’t stop developing. Fighters routinely keep moving up in weight divisions as time wears on. Not only that, but by the age of 22, bodies have generally developed fully in all of the necessary biological categories. What Anatoly can only be talking about is something more abstract, or just making excuses.
Indeed, many are considering the latter. For a variety of reasons. One of the critical developments in the boxing world in the last decade has been its popularization in Europe and Asia and its relative decline in the United States. With that, new marketing hotspots have arisen where others once dominated. Fighters, especially international ones, can no longer bank on a successful American debut. It doesn’t make the financial sense it used to. Lomachenko is already a European sensation, completely idolized in Ukraine. Even with his name, which would guarantee American interest, the European fan base he currently maintains is completely suitable to life at home.
Yet there’s another titbit of information that’s undoubtedly affecting things. Since 2008, AIBA, The International Boxing Association, has awarded winning fighters prize money for their success, in an effort to “bridge the gap between amateur and professional boxing.” Well, that’s exactly what this move has done. International fighters no longer have incentive to move to the pros because they can earn a living staying in the amateur ranks, and doing it at home at that.
Finally it’s worth considering that Lomachenko undoubtedly has endorsement deals already working their way through, yet another source of outside income. Companies would be idiotic not to try to cash in on his person, arguably the most valuable amateur sporting asset in Europe.
Whatever the reason, fans are going to have to wait until the after the 2012 Olympics in London, which is when Lomachenko’s amateur deadline hits.
Professional boxing might be wise to enter into negotiations with other international bodies to attempt to remedy this situation, since the current situation is obviously hurting them in a variety of ways.
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