Vasiliy Lomachenko Returns to Top Rank Boxing — Pursuing Undisputed Glory
Vasiliy Lomachenko is back — and he’s gone home.
The Ukrainian maestro, long regarded as one of the most gifted technicians of his era, has ended his brief stint as a free agent by signing a new multi-fight deal with Bob Arum’s Top Rank Boxing. The agreement, announced on Thursday, comes as a co-promotion with his own company, Loma Power Promotions, and signals that his retirement never felt truly permanent.
Arum, who has guided much of Lomachenko’s professional career, wasted no time framing the comeback in grand terms. In a Top Rank release, he called Lomachenko “one of the most gifted fighters” he has ever promoted and underlined the target that has eluded the former three-division champion: becoming an undisputed world champion.
That single word — undisputed — now drives the entire second act.
A champion who walked away, then turned back
Lomachenko announced his intention to return on the very day his previous Top Rank contract expired. On paper, it was the perfect moment to test the market, listen to rival offers, perhaps even engineer a bidding war. Instead, he circled back to the promoter who helped turn him into a global attraction, choosing familiarity and structure as the platform for one last push at history.
He does so at 38, with a ledger that still commands respect: 18 wins, 3 defeats. The record is clean enough, but the context is sharper. He is only 4-2 in his last six outings, a run that includes those much-debated losses to Teofimo Lopez and Devin Haney — results that split opinion and still fuel arguments in gyms and bars around the sport.
His last appearance came in May 2025, when he systematically broke down George Kambosos Jr. and closed the show with an 11th-round TKO to claim the IBF and IBO lightweight titles. Two months later, he walked away from boxing, announcing his retirement with belts in his possession and questions in the air.
Now he walks straight back into a landscape that has moved on without him — but not far enough to forget him.
Lightweight glory or a return to 130?
Lomachenko’s goal is clear: he wants what his résumé lacks. He has been lineal champion in multiple divisions, a belt collector with a highlight reel that made fellow professionals shake their heads. Yet the undisputed crown, all four major titles in one division, has remained just out of reach.
Lightweight, where he campaigned from 2018 until his retirement in 2024, still offers a path. The IBF lightweight title he once held is currently vacant, and his status as a former champion makes him an obvious candidate for a shot. If he dives back into 135 pounds, the road to undisputed would run straight through the current belt-holders: William Zepeda with the WBC title, Abdullah Mason with the WBO strap and Floyd Schofield Jr. ruling under the WBA banner.
That is one route. The other feels more immediate.
Lomachenko has been strongly linked to a comeback at super featherweight, back down at 130 pounds where he once reigned as WBO champion. His name has been tied to recent title challenger Charly Suarez as a potential first opponent — the kind of matchup that would allow him to re-establish rhythm while still carrying real jeopardy.
And then there is the man who has already raised his hand.
O'Shaquie Foster watches, and waits
O'Shaquie Foster, the WBC, WBO and IBF super featherweight champion, has wasted no time inserting himself into the conversation. Fresh off a statement victory over Emanuel Navarrete that vaulted him into pound-for-pound discussions, Foster has openly shown interest in defending his unified crown against Lomachenko.
For Foster, it would be the legacy fight, the night he tests himself against a generational craftsman and a global name. For Lomachenko, it would be something else entirely: a chance to walk straight into the teeth of the division, to chase three belts in one go against a champion in his prime.
The options are rich, the margins thin. Lightweight offers the undisputed dream in a division he knows well. Super featherweight offers a familiar weight, a hungry unified champion and a fast track to relevance.
Lomachenko has chosen his promoter. His purpose is set. The only question now is which weight, which belt, and which young champion will be first to find out how much of the old magic still remains.
