Though contracts are not signed, Top Rank president Todd duBoef confirmed to Yahoo Sports on Wednesday a report by The Athletic’s Mike Coppinger that WBA/WBC/WBO lightweight champion Vasiliy Lomachenko and IBF champion Teofimo Lopez will meet in October in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Conference Center in a bout that will be broadcast by ESPN.
The title unification bout, one of the biggest in boxing that could be made, pits the pound-for-pound star Lomachenko against the brash, hard-punching Lopez, who is 15-0 with 12 knockouts.
The fight had been targeted for Oct. 3 on pay-per-view, but with it looking like ESPN would have holes in its fall schedule because of the uncertainty of college football due to the coronavirus pandemic, Top Rank and ESPN were able to come to an agreement to put the bout in the second half of October on ESPN.