Lomachenko Targeting Fall Return, Tank Davis On His Radar

Vasiliy Lomachenko has identified a two-fight path that would immediately place him back among world title contention for a comeback this fall — Emanuel Navarrete first, with Gervonta Davis next.

Navarrete, the current IBF and WBO featherweight/" class="internal-link text-bone underline decoration-ash/30 hover:decoration-gold underline-offset-2">super featherweight champion, has emerged as the leading candidate for Lomachenko's first fight back. A win would hand Lomachenko a world title in his return bout and set up the Davis fight from a position of strength rather than as a challenger.

For a fighter who has made clear he has no interest in tune-ups — a man who fought for a world title in only his second professional bout — the Navarrete route makes sense as the minimum acceptable standard for a comeback fight.

The Davis fight has history behind it. Talks circulated in 2024 before Lomachenko retired following the Kambosos stoppage, and a chronic back injury was reported to have derailed negotiations.

With that injury now apparently behind him and his Top Rank contract expired, Lomachenko is free to pursue the fight through whatever promotional channel makes it possible. Interest on both sides has been reignited, and the commercial appeal of the matchup has not diminished.

The Plan

Davis is also targeting a fall return and has been linked with an Isaac Cruz rematch as the leading candidate for that comeback. If both fighters return in the fall through different opponents, a meeting between them early in 2027 becomes the natural endpoint.

"Lomachenko is returning in the fall of this year. He's only targeting big names. He doesn't want to fight any tune-ups — and that's no surprise. For a guy like Lomachenko, he fought for a title in his second pro fight. After Navarrete, I heard Lomachenko could be looking at Gervonta Davis. That was a fight he was in talks to do in 2024,” Mike Coppinger

The Challenge

Despite this being the case, Loma will have a lot to prove.

“I don't know what, if anything, Lomachenko has lost with a two-year retirement. So, for me to hypothesize how he would do with all of these younger guys would be wrong. We'll just have to see. I don't know what his financial situation is.

“He earned a lot of money with us. He lives in Ukraine, and there are a lot of problems there. Maybe he needs money, or maybe he's just anxious to get out of the house. But Loma represents the best of what boxing has to offer. I wish him the best because he was a great, great warrior for us. He really epitomizes the best in boxing,” Bob Arum