Arum hypes clash of amateur titans

A professional world title showdown between the two greatest amateur boxers of all time - Vasyl Lomachenko and Guillermo Rigondeaux - is a step closer to being finalized, according to Top Rank promoter Bob Arum.

The 83-year-old Arum, in Macao to promote Saturday's showdown between China's Ik Yang Lianhui and Cesar Cuenca of Argentina for the International Boxing Federation's vacant junior welterweight title, said on Friday he would be able to reveal more once he returns to the US next week, adding: "There is a good chance of it happening."

Ukraine's Lomachenko, the Olympic gold medalist in 2008 and 2012, lost only once in his 500-fight amateur career and is the current World Boxing Organization (WBO) featherweight champ, having won the title in just his third pro fight. He has successfully defended it twice.

Cuba's Rigondeaux was an amateur icon who also won two Olympic titles (2004 and 2008) in a 475-bout career before defecting to the US in 2009. He is 15-0 as a pro and currently holds the WBO and World Boxing Association super bantamweight crowns.

"I've got to get back and put everything together, but I'd like to do that fight," Arum said on the sidelines of Friday's weigh-in. "It would be sensational."

Lomachenko and Rigondeaux both featured separately on Top Rank cards in Macao last year, but Arum had disappointing news for Asian fight fans who thought they might have a chance to witness the clash of the two amateur titans in the southern Chinese city.

Arum said the fight will almost certainly be staged either in Chicago or in the cash-rich city of Dubai.

(China Daily 07/18/2015 page12)