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Vasiliy Lomachenko on Jamaine Ortiz bout; why a Gervonta Davis matchup intrigues him

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Yahoo Sports' Kevin Iole interviews Vasiliy Lomachenko ahead of his bout versus Jamaine Ortiz on Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The former unified lightweight champion talks about why he chose to face "young and ambitious" Ortiz, the stacked 135-pound division and who he thinks would be the best opponent to fight next.

Video Transcript

KEVIN IOLE: Hey, everybody. I am Kevin Iole and Lome is back. October 29th at Madison Square Garden, he will be facing Jamaine Ortiz in an important bout in his career. Loma, welcome. Thanks for joining me.

VASILIY LOMACHENKO: Thank you, thank you. Hello.

KEVIN IOLE: What did you-- what do you make of Jamaine Ortiz. A guy that not a lot of fans are familiar with but he had a really impressive win earlier this year over Jamel Herring. When you watch that fight, what do you take away from it?

VASILIY LOMACHENKO THROUGH INTERPRETER: I think he's a young and ambitious fighter. He is undefeated and he has a good, like [? quiver, ?] of techniques and other things in boxing.

KEVIN IOLE: Loma, since you have been a champion, this seems like a little bit of a drop in competition for you. You have been facing the absolute best of the best guys that have had championships or guys that are right there. When he was presented to you at first, did you like it right away or was it something you had to think about for a while?

VASILIY LOMACHENKO: [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

VASILIY LOMACHENKO THROUGH INTERPRETER: I didn't have many options because there was a long break, for obvious reasons in my career and I could not fight, immediately after that break, top fighters. So it just would not make sense so I was offered two potential contenders and I chose Ortiz because he's undefeated.

KEVIN IOLE: OK, very good. You know, let's ask you about that. Obviously Oleksandr Usyk came back after getting permission from the government in Ukraine to fight and he did a fantastic job against Anthony Joshua. And everybody that I've talked to that has been in Ukraine or around Ukraine has said how much he lifted the spirits of the people with his performance. Do you feel like that is a burden that you carry into this fight, that there is a lot more riding on it other than a win or loss given what it will mean to the people in Ukraine for you?

VASILIY LOMACHENKO: [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

VASILIY LOMACHENKO THROUGH INTERPRETER: You know, we are at times of war in my country. And those fights that are happening during war, if they give an opportunity for the people, at least, to get distracted for an hour or two from the news reports, from all the bad information that's coming their way, I think it's important. I'll be happy if my fight will let people get distracted. Follow the sporting-- like, the sport event instead of just getting glued to the news reports.

KEVIN IOLE: Loma, do you feel like you're moving into a different phase of your career at 34 years old. You're kind of a veteran guy now, you've been around for a long time. Do you feel like you're changing and you have to fight differently because you're maybe getting a little older now?

VASILIY LOMACHENKO: [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

VASILIY LOMACHENKO THROUGH INTERPRETER: Oh, of course I have to adjust. Because you know, years only add up, they never go the other direction. And of course, I feel that I need more time to recover now than I used to. I remember that was like from half a day I'd be able to recover, and now I'll probably need the entire day. So the approach changed somewhat. We decreased the workload, and we added more time for recovery.

KEVIN IOLE: How much though does your experience, and the fact that you've been in all these important fights and fought these great fighters, maybe offset whatever physical decline you have. Does that experience help you be better even though you're not as good physically as you might have been?

VASILIY LOMACHENKO: [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

VASILIY LOMACHENKO THROUGH INTERPRETER: It's difficult for me to say but I would agree with you. Yes, of course experience helps. But this fight against the young and ambitious fighter will show whether it's the case.

KEVIN IOLE: I know you don't want to look ahead to any other fights but you're in a division now that I think is one of the best divisions in boxing and I wonder if you can comment. Just-- you know, you look at Devin Haney, Shakur Stevenson, Gervonta Davis, some other fighters out there, yourself. You might be in maybe the best division in boxing active right now. When you look at the group, do you agree that it's one of the top divisions in boxing and there are many elite fighters that you could fight in the division?

VASILIY LOMACHENKO: [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

VASILIY LOMACHENKO THROUGH INTERPRETER: I would agree with you on that because in this division we have a lot of talented fighters. Fighters with a lot of boxing expertise, a lot of champions, people who are champions in different divisions, and moved to this division. So I think, yes indeed. It's the most competitive and the most interesting weight division today.

KEVIN IOLE: Which of the lightweights do you think would make the best fight with you? Like, if you looked at all those champions and big-name lightweight fighters, who do you think would be the best opponent for you?

VASILIY LOMACHENKO THROUGH INTERPRETER: Of course, the opponent number one for me would be Devin Haney because he has four belts right now. And from the boxing style standpoint, that would be Gervonta Davis.

KEVIN IOLE: Interesting.

VASILIY LOMACHENKO THROUGH INTERPRETER: What's interesting?

KEVIN IOLE: Why do you say that? You know, because he has the power that you would have to negate? Is that why you say that Gervonta would be interesting?

VASILIY LOMACHENKO THROUGH INTERPRETER: I said Davis because he offers an interesting fight. He's an aggressive fighter, he's looking for the right punch, he's like he's on the offensive while the other fighters have a different strategy. They try to defend and counter-strike.

KEVIN IOLE: I know that Teofimo Lopez has move up in weight. But given the history you have with him, would that be a fight in the future you want just because you want to prove that you can defeat him and that you're the better fighter?

VASILIY LOMACHENKO: [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

VASILIY LOMACHENKO THROUGH INTERPRETER: In theory, that would be an interesting fight for me. But I don't see him going down to 135 for-- like, me going up. I have a lot of interesting fighters in my weight division right now. So in the next year or two, I don't think a fight between us is possible.

KEVIN IOLE: So you said in the next year or two, so does that tell me that you're putting about two years left to compete as a pro?

VASILIY LOMACHENKO THROUGH INTERPRETER: What I'm trying to say is that I'm going to continue beyond those two years that I mentioned. It's just that I said that I have a lot of opportunities in this weight division at 135. So, like enough fighters to face in the next two years, which would not make me go up in weight in order to fight Lopez while he will not be able to come down.

KEVIN IOLE: Absolutely.

VASILIY LOMACHENKO THROUGH INTERPRETER: Yeah, but I didn't mention anything about finishing the career or like looking at the end of my career within any future.

KEVIN IOLE: So let's wrap up on this. How does the fight with Ortiz go down. How do you win this fight Loma?

VASILIY LOMACHENKO: [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

VASILIY LOMACHENKO THROUGH INTERPRETER: Ortiz is a technician. He has speed. He likes to go for various combinations and he moves well in the ring. I think that this fight will remind you of a good amateur fight. So you will see a lot of good quality boxing from the technical standpoint.

KEVIN IOLE: Look forward to seeing it. October 29th at Madison Square Garden in New York. Vasiliy Lomachenko against Jamaine Ortiz. Loma, thank you for your time. Best of luck to you, as always, my friend.

VASILIY LOMACHENKO: Thank you.