The Vasyl Lomachenko Show Shouldn't Move to Pay-Per-View Yet

Vasyl Lomachenko made history on Saturday night in New York City.

His highlight-reel knockout of rugged veteran Rocky Martinez netted him a second world championship in as many weight classes and made him the fastest fighter in boxing history to become a multi-weight world champion.

Lomachenko has plenty of options for exciting fights in the 130-pound division. What we don’t know, and this is all speculation at this point, is if his next fight will come on regular HBO or the network’s pay-per-view arm.

Keith Idec of Boxing Scene reported from the Theater at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night that Lomachenko’s promoter, Bob Arum, is not willing to allow his fighter’s progression to be held up by the network’s well-documented budget constraints.

“I would hope that we do many more fights on HBO,” Arum said on Saturday, per Idec. “If HBO doesn’t have the money and can’t come up with the money, then I’ll go to my pocket and do fights, like I’m doing with [Terence] Crawford and [Viktor] Postol on pay-per-view.”

“I’m not going to deter the development of these fighters—like Bud Crawford, like Postol, like Lomachenko—because of some company’s budgetary nonsense.”

Crawford and Postol, the two best junior welterweight fighters in the world in the eyes of most, will meet July 23 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on HBO PPV. That’s a huge risk, given that neither fighter has yet attracted the type of mainstream attention that drives sales on PPV.

Arum made the move to push Crawford onto PPV in March because of a shrinking budget for fights at HBO. He told ESPN.com’s Dan Rafael in March that the decision had to do with “budgets” and that “HBO is going to do a lot of its fights on pay-per-view.”

That means fewer dollars and dates for fights on the network and more expectation on the fans to shell out extra cash to see the fights and fighters they want.

And it leaves promoters in a bind.

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They can either pick and choose the fights that really matter, handicapping certain fighters to one or two appearances per year, or they can hitch themselves to the PPV wagon with its inherent risks.

The Crawford-Postol card will also feature Oscar Valdez, Jose Benavidez and newly crowned super middleweight titlist Gilberto Ramirez, but it needs to draw in about 75,000 viewers at $50 a pop for Arum to just break even on what he shelled out to stage the event, according to Rafael.

That’s very ambitious, to say the least, in a PPV market that has been down overall and just recently saw superstar Manny Pacquiao—granted in a matchup few if any wanted—flop in what purported to be his final fight.

Lomachenko firmly established himself as one of the top fighters in the sport with his performance on Saturday night. It’s no longer too early to talk about his pound-for-pound credentials.

His skill set, perhaps unmatched in the sport from a technical standpoint, allowed him to toy with a tough opponent known for producing exciting fights and then stop him in spectacular fashion with a perfect left uppercut, right hook combo that Martinez never saw coming.

Lomachenko has a lot of momentum and good options going forward for his next fight, which—and this can’t be stressed enough—belongs on regular HBO and not PPV.

Orlando Salido, who one week prior went to war with Francisco Vargas in what likely will end up as 2016’s Fight of the Year, was in attendance Saturday night. He sat a few feet behind the media row and stated several times that he’d be interested in a Lomachenko rematch.

Eric Gay/Associated Press

Salido beat Lomachenko by decision in the latter’s second professional fight in 2014. Siri failed to make weight for that contest and utilized plenty of dirty tactics, but by the end of the fight it seemed that the Ukrainian had figured him out. He just ran out of time.

Among fight fans—and perhaps we’re mainly speaking to the hardcore sort here—you’ll hardly find two hotter names than Vasyl Lomachenko and Orlando Salido right now.

Both are coming off spectacular performances in high-profile spots, they have history and a compelling narrative to generate interest and it’s a pretty darn good fight.

Hell, it might even be a great fight, but it’s one that belongs on HBO and not PPV.

Even if that means the network has to shake the couch with cushions to find some extra cash in the budget to accommodate it.

Unless otherwise noted, quotes and information were obtained firsthand.