Gervonta Davis and Vasiliy Lomachenko have cut off contract talks, ending hopes of a mega-fight between them in 2024.
According to ESPN’s Mike Coppinger, an official involved with the negotiations said they have been broken off due to Lomachenko’s desire to take the rest of 2024 off.
The two sides had been attempting to hammer out a deal that would have locked in a lightweight title unification bout for November in Las Vegas.
Representatives from PBC and Top Rank met last week in Las Vegas with the goal of finalizing a deal for an ESPN-Prime Video pay-per-view fight between Davis and Lomachenko, but they never got to the finish line, per Coppinger.
Lomachenko’s manager, Egis Klimas, explained that the Ukrainian star simply wasn’t feeling the idea of boxing again in 2024, saying:
“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. … 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.”
Davis, 29, is widely regarded as one of the top pound-for-pound boxers in the world. He boasts a perfect career record of 30-0 with 28 knockouts, and is the WBA lightweight title holder.
“Tank” most recently fought in June, beating Frank Martin by eighth-round knockout to retain his title.
The 36-year-old Lomachenko first rose to prominence as an Olympic gold medalist in 2008 and 2012, but he has enjoyed success in the professional ranks as well.
Loma is 18-3 with 12 wins by way of knockout, and he has won major titles in three separate weight classes.
After somewhat controversially losing to Devin Haney by unanimous decision in a bout for the WBA (Super), WBC, IBF, WBO, and The Ring lightweight titles, he bounced back to beat George Kambosos Jr. in May for the vacant IBF lightweight title.
While Lomachenko reportedly intends to return in 2025 to defend that title for the first time, Davis must now find a new opponent for the fall.
Coppinger listed Isaac Cruz, William Zepeda and WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson as potential options.