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Vasiliy Lomachenko Targeting Gervonta Davis and Another World Champ for Return

Lomachenko has made a U-turn on his retirement decision from over a year ago and is reportedly targeting, Emanuel Navarrete and then Gervonta 'Tank' Davis as his opponents.
James Hicken|
Vasyl Lomachenko
Vasyl Lomachenko | IMAGO / Icon Sportswire

Vasiliy Lomachenko will make a boxing return after nearly a year out of the ring in the fall of this year and isn't looking for any warm-ups as he reportedly targets two world title-level opponents.

Last year, the Ukrainian former three-division world champion announced he would hang up his gloves shortly after his stoppage victory over George Kambosos in May 2025. But with a comeback now on the cards, it is now reported that Lomachenko is looking at the current unified super featherweight champion Emanuel Navarrete and the former WBA lightweight champion Gervonta 'Tank' Davis as potential opponents

Lomachenko targeting Davis and Navarrete

"One of the names he’s looking at is Emanuel Navarrete, who is on our pound-for-pound list, who has a title at 130," Coppinger said on the Inside The Ring Show last night. "So after that, I heard Lomachenko could be looking at Gervonta Davis. That was a fight that he was in talks to do in 2024."

Gervonta Davis vs Lamont Roach
Gervonta Davis exchanges with Lamont Roach Jr | IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire

Lomachenko, 18-3 with 12 KOs, is a true legend and trailblazer in the sport, fighting for a world title in his second fight, where he fell short against Orlando Salido, only to find success in his next fight and comfortably beat Gary Allen Russell Jr to become WBO featherweight champion. He would go on to claim world titles in two more weight classes, including the unified lightweight championship.

With a record of willingness to take on the best whenever they are available, it seems a foregone conclusion that Lomachenko would only be on the hunt for the biggest opportunities.

"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. He beat Gary Russell Jr., he destroyed him in his third fight,”

The first target, Navarrete, 40-2-1 with 33 KOs, is coming off a career-best win of Eduardo 'Sugar' Nunez to become the unified super featherweight champion via 11th-round stoppage. He is now ranked among the top ten pound-for-pound fighters in the world by The Ring as a three-weight world champion and is a great option for the Ukrainian to climb the tree as quickly as possible.

'Tank', 30-0-1 with 28 KOs, had been one of the biggest draws in the sport in 2024 and 2025, but legal troubles and a failed fight against Jake Paul has meant that the American has had his WBA lightweight title downgraded to 'Champion in recess' and he has not fought in well over a year since his lacklustre draw with Lamont Roach Jr - but a fight against Lomachenko would no doubt lure Davis back into the ring.

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James Hicken
JAMES HICKEN

James started his journalism career in 2024 and has written about a variety of sports, including Boxing, MMA, tennis and Formula 1, but his expertise is in boxing. As a former boxer, he has been published with Boxing News and the Independent, where he worked as a boxing writer - covering breaking news, analysis, interviewing notable figures such as Amir Khan and reporting from ringside. James was born in Birmingham in the UK before a brief stint of his childhood in New Jersey, and then returned to the UK as a teenager to finish his education and gain a Bachelor's degree from Newcastle University. When he isn’t writing, James enjoys a round of golf with his friends or lacing up his gloves and trying to emulate the fighters he loves watching, like Vasiliy Lomachenko and David Benavidez.