Vasiliy Lomachenko, the three-weight world champion and former pound-for-pound king, arrived at Los Angeles International Airport on Tuesday. Lomachenko (16-2, 11 KOs), who spent several months serving with the Belgorod-Dnestrovsky Territorial Defense Battalion in his native Ukraine, is ready to resume his boxing career and will return to the ring later this year against a to-be-determined opponent.

 

A former featherweight, junior lightweight and unified lightweight champion, Lomachenko regained his career momentum in 2021 with dominant victories over Masayoshi Nakatani and Richard Commey. He will begin training camp at his Southern California residence with an eye on his ultimate goal of ruling the lightweight division. In the eight months since his points win over Commey, 23-year-old prodigy Devin "The Dream" Haney toppled George Kambosos Jr. to become the undisputed king.

 

"I pray every day for Ukraine, for the people.... and stop the war. When I came back to Ukraine, I believe it was the second day of war. Your mind changes because you see a different life. It's a different life. Nobody knows what happened on this day. It's very bad. It's very bad for the world," Lomachenko said. "I've prepared for this moment, and I need this chance. I need this fight... undisputed. Undisputed world champion."