Lomachenko Ends Retirement, Returns at 130 Chasing Undisputed

Vasiliy Lomachenko is unretiring. The Ukrainian, 18-3 (12 KO), confirmed on DAZN from San Antonio that he's returning to boxing — and dropping back to super featherweight, a division he hasn't touched since outpointing Guillermo Rigondeaux in 2017. He's targeting a comeback in 2027, when he'll be pushing 40.

The target is specific. Lomachenko said he wants the winner of tonight's Emanuel Navarrete–O'Shaquie Foster fight, a bout that puts three world title belts on the table. Navarrete walks in holding the IBF and WBO straps at 130 with a 40-2-1 (33 KO) record, so a Loma win over that man would leave him one belt short of the undisputed status he's still openly chasing.

Why 130, Why Now

His reasoning for the weight change is blunt: he said 135 was never his natural home, and that's part of why he walked away in the first place. At super featherweight he was a different animal — a technician who made good fighters look lost. The question is whether a 38-year-old (he turns 39 in February) who's been idle since May 2024 can rediscover that version of himself.

To his credit, Loma isn't overselling it. He said training looks good right now but admitted nobody knows how he'll feel after another month or two of camp. That's a refreshingly honest line from a fighter whose ceiling has always been impossibly high and whose margin for error, at this age, is paper-thin.

The Top Rank Question

There's a business wrinkle, too. Lomachenko spent his entire pro career under Top Rank and only floated this comeback after his deal with them expired — yet he brought it up while attending a Top Rank event and wouldn't rule out working with them again. Smart. At this stage, boxing himself into a corner over promoters serves nobody.

His last outing was a reminder of what he can still do: a road stoppage of George Kambosos Jr in Australia to lift the IBF lightweight title. Talk of a Gervonta Davis showdown followed but never materialized. Now he's betting that a return to his best weight, against the right belt-holder, can write one more chapter. Whether the body cooperates is the only thing that matters.