In boxing, one decision can have a domino effect that changes the entire look of a division overnight.
Some divisions are so delicately poised that fighters wait on the sidelines, waiting for the status quo to collapse whilst hoping things fall in place for their own personal gain.
In the lightweight division, it was not just one decision that caused ripples throughout the weight class, but a crazy week has seen the entire picture at 135lbs completely change.
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Vasyl Lomachenko’s confirmed retirement clarifies IBF landscape
Vasyl Lomachenko announced his retirement from professional boxing last week, putting to bed a year of speculation regarding his future in the sweet science.
Negotiations for a unification bout with WBC champion Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis fizzled out last year, with the 37-year-old vague when discussing his retirement plans.
Lomachenko had been on hiatus for some time, fighting just once in two years, before his year-long absence dragging on long enough for the IBF to start looking for an interim champion.
Raymond Muratalla only served as interim for a month after defeating Zaur Abdullaev in May, with Lomachenko’s official retirement seeing the American promoted to full champion this week.
The full IBF title picture will be made fully clear by the end of this week. Prior to Lomachenko’s retirement, the sanctioning body did not list a fighter at number one or two in their rankings, owning to the fact that Muratalla was effectively both champion and mandatory.
This weekend, third-ranked Andy Cruz takes on the IBF’s fifth-highest rated lightweight Hironori Mishiro on the undercard of Hitchins-Kambosos Jr, with the bout serving as a final eliminator for mandatory status.
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As such, Muratalla’s first fight as full champion will likely be a defence against either Crux or Mishiro, rather than a unification bout with a divisional rival.
Missing weight sees Keyshawn Davis drop out of title picture
A few months ago, Keyshawn Davis was aiming to unify his WBO title with Lomachenko’s IBF belt. Fast forward to June, and neither man has a belt anymore.
Days after Lomachenko announced his retirement, Davis forfeited his WBO lightweight strap after missing weight by four pounds. His challenger, Edwin De Los Santos, backed out from the fight after concessions could not be made.
It remains to be seen whether Davis will continue to operate at lightweight, or whether he will now make the jump to 140 pounds.
Davis’ failure to make weight has its consequences, both for the American, and the division at large.
De Los Santos, a previous challenger for the WBC lightweight title, looks to be bypassed, with the WBO reportedly interested in pitting Abdullah Mason against Sam Noakes for the vacant belt.
Noakes is number one with the organisation, with Mason ranked just behind in second.
Both fighters are unbeaten with impressive knockout power, Noakes stopping 15 opponents from 17 bouts, Mason securing 17 early stoppages from 19 fights.
Unification bouts seem some distance away
The unification conversation at 135lbs is firmly in the future tense, with the two other lightweight champions already scheduled to make defences in their next bouts.
Shakur Stevenson is next in action, the WBC champion facing the organisation’s interim title holder, William Zepeda, live on DAZN July 12th in New York.
WBA belt holder Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis is reportedly in action the following month, facing Lamont Roach in a rematch on August 16th.
Davis and Roach shared a controversial draw earlier this year, outraging stemming from Tank taking a knee that was not declared a knockdown.
The division has not been completely unified since Devin Haney defeated George Kambosos Jr in 2022, nor have any of the belts been unified since Haney moved up to super lightweight in 2023.
It seems likely that the division will remain fractured beyond 2025, but the shaken-up status of the weight class may lend itself to unification in the not-so distant future.
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