Bob Arum’s promotional company offers an intriguing immediate rematch as its main event Saturday night in Verona, New York, when former WBC super featherweight champion O’Shaquie Foster attempts to regain his title from Robson Conceicao. The 2016 Olympic gold medalist from Brazil defeated Foster by split decision July 6 in Newark, New Jersey, where Foster feels he was wronged because he deserved to win 10 rounds of a 12-round, 130-pound championship bout broadcasted by ESPN.
Conceicao instead edged Foster, of Orange, Texas, on two scorecards and left the ring at Prudential Center the winner for the first time in four world title bouts. ESPN+ will stream Conceicao-Foster II from Turning Stone Resort Casino, sometime around 11 p.m. ET.
As much as hardcore boxing fans figure to consume this second bout between Conceicao (19-2-1, 9 KOs) and Foster (22-3, 12 KOs), it was not the main event Arum’s Top Rank Inc. initially planned for Saturday night.
Uncrowned has learned that there was a point early in the summer when Top Rank executives and representatives for Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions came close to finalizing a deal for Gervonta “Tank” Davis to finally fight Vasiliy Lomachenko in what would’ve been one of the highest-profile boxing matches of 2024. Baltimore’s Davis (30-0, 28 KOs) has long been criticized for not facing the Ukrainian southpaw, but one of boxing’s biggest stars was completely committed to battling Lomachenko (18-3, 12 KOs) in what would’ve been a 12-round lightweight title unification fight.
It wasn’t until Lomachenko informed Top Rank’s executives that he wasn’t interested in fighting Davis or anyone else before the end of this year that negotiations ceased. Top Rank was authorized to explore the showdown with Davis by Lomachenko’s longtime manager, Egis Klimas, but Lomachenko ultimately wanted more time to decide if, not when, he will continue his Hall of Fame career in 2025.
Had Lomachenko signed off on the deal, he and Davis likely would’ve fought this Saturday night at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Their pay-per-view bout would’ve been co-distributed by ESPN (Top Rank) and Amazon’s Prime Video (PBC).
ESPN preferred November 2 over November 9, the other date discussed for Davis-Lomachenko, because the basic cable conglomerate would’ve been able to promote its fight more comprehensively this week than next week because of its loaded college football schedule November 9.
“[Top Rank president] Todd [duBoef] and myself had a couple of meetings with PBC and tried to put together the fight with Tank,” Carl Moretti, Top Rank’s vice president of boxing operations, told Uncrowned. “We agreed on a lot of stuff and it wasn’t an issue at all, as far as what we were doing and how we were moving forward. What we didn’t have yet, and what we came to find out, was that ‘Loma’ wasn’t in the country, and we hadn’t had those discussions with him.
“We had just spoken to his manager briefly. But up to that point, everything was all systems go. But when ‘Loma’ did get back into the country, he decided he didn’t want to fight at this point and needed to take the rest of the year off. He wasn’t going to decide what he was going to do until sometime in the beginning of the year [2025]. He wasn’t going to fight Tank or anyone else in November, or for the remainder of this year.”
Lomachenko last fought May 12, when he dominated former unified lightweight champ George Kambosos Jr. (21-3, 10 KOs) at PAC Arena in Perth, Australia. The three-weight world champion dropped Sydney’s Kambosos twice in the 11th round before their scheduled 12-round, 135-pound championship match was stopped. Lomachenko, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, regained the then-vacant IBF lightweight title by battering Kambosos in impressive fashion.
Lomachenko is 36, however, and although he has only 21 professional fights on his record, he competed in almost 400 amateur bouts and might not have the desire to keep up with the physical demands of this grueling sport. The ongoing war with Russia in his native Ukraine, where he still resides at least part-time, has also taken an emotional toll on Lomachenko as well.
Davis, meanwhile, has agreed to box WBA super featherweight champ Lamont Roach next. Roach (25-1-1, 10 KOs), of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, moves up from the 130-pound division to the 135-pound limit to challenge one of boxing’s most entertaining knockout artists.
Their fight was initially scheduled to take place December 14 at Toyota Center in Houston. It has been pushed back, but the new date for their pay-per-view main event early in 2025 hasn’t been solidified.
Davis, who turns 30 on November 7, confirmed through his X account Tuesday that he will still face Roach next. Uncrowned confirmed that their bout still will be held at Toyota Center, the home arena of the NBA’s Houston Rockets, primarily because that’s where Davis wants to headline when he returns to the ring.
Contrary to posted reports, Davis-Roach will still headline its own pay-per-view show early next year, rather than packaging it with PBC’s highly anticipated light heavyweight battle between David Benavidez and David Morrell Jr. Phoenix’s Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) and the Cuban-born, Minneapolis-based Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) are expected to square off in a PBC/Prime Video pay-per-view main event January 25 in Las Vegas.
Benavidez’s previous fight — a 12-round, unanimous decision win over former WBC light heavyweight champ Oleksandr Gvozdyk (20-2, 16 KOs) — was the co-feature before Davis’ most recent win June 15 at MGM Grand Garden Arena. Davis knocked out Frank Martin (18-1, 12 KOs), a southpaw from Detroit, in the eighth round of their PBC/Prime Video pay-per-view main event that night.
Davis’ handlers looked into the possibility of a fight with Jose Valenzuela next after Valenzuela upset Mexican mauler Isaac Cruz in his most recent appearance August 3 at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles. Cruz previously tested “Tank” and ended Davis’ 16-fight knockout streak in December 2021, but still lost a closely contested unanimous decision at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
The Mexican-born Valenzuela (14-2, 9 KOs), of Renton, Washington, defeated Mexico City’s Cruz (26-3-1, 18 KOs) by split decision in their 12-round fight for Cruz’s WBA super lightweight title on the Terence Crawford-Israil Madrimov undercard. Valenzuela could still squeeze down to the lightweight limit of 135 pounds for the opportunity to face Davis, but he wasn’t interested in taking that fight next.
It isn’t clear if Davis-Lomachenko negotiations will resume if Lomachenko opts to continue his career in 2025. All their handlers know now is how close they came to, at long last, putting together a fascinating fight that has tantalized boxing fans for several years, only to have Davis’ team pursue other opponents while Lomachenko performed in his physical prime.
“We’ve known these [PBC] guys a long time and they know us,” Moretti said. “These were adult, positive conversations. If Loma would’ve fought this year, it would’ve been against ‘Tank’ and it would’ve happened.
“There wasn’t a glitch that came up in many discussions. Production still needed to be figured out, but there was nothing holding it back at that point.”
