Suarez: Bring it on

The one thing that everyone in Charly Suarez’s camp had feared could be happening soon.

In a fight being eyed for February 2027, Suarez could end up colliding with Vasyl Lomachenko with the winner guaranteed a shot at three-belt world super-featherweight titlist O’Shaquie Foster.

That’s the scenario being looked at right now by Suarez and his manager/trainer Delfin Boholst, who I have been speaking to the past several days following Foster’s masterful beating of Emanuel Navarrete of Mexico.

“We are not ducking anyone,” Boholst said, noting that Suarez himself is now included to accept a showdown with Lomachenko instead of getting a direct shot at the world title.

In a perfect world, Suarez should get his much-deserved crack at Foster since he is the World Boxing Organization (WBO) mandatory challenger in the 130-pound division.

He has been holding that position since last year on the strength of his fight with Navarrete that was ruled a No-Contest from the original ruling of a technical decision victory by the Mexican.

But since the other boxing bodies are now involved, it is difficult to see Foster defending all three against Suarez.

While the WBO lists him as its mandatory challenger, the World Boxing Council and International Boxing Federation don’t consider him as such.

And with Suarez not as popular as Lomachenko, the stakeholders are not too keen on putting up a fight involving him for fear that it might bomb in the box office.

But Boholst believes that in the event Suarez beats Lomachenko, then, there would be no other choice but to give the Filipino his due.

The good thing is that Suarez doesn’t feel intimidated by the highly-accomplished and highly-skilled Ukrainian, according to Boholst, who intimated to me that Suarez welcomes the idea of facing Lomachenko.

Besides, Suarez knows how Lomachenko moves. They have a story that dates back to 2013.

During the World Series of Boxing in 2013, Suarez and Lomachenko found each other on opposite corners.

Suarez was fighting under the banner of Italia Thunder while Lomachenko was representing Ukraine Otamans. That fight was held in Lomachenko’s backyard in Ukraine.

While Lomachenko won that fight on points, 50-44, he found Suarez a tough customer.

Boholst told me that Suarez had told him that Lomachenko, a two-time Olympic champion and two-time world amateur gold medalist, doesn’t send shivers down his spine.

So, it is interesting that the two — both 38 years old — are on a collision course.

Lomachenko may have beaten Suarez before but that was a long time ago.

I’ve got a funny feeling Suarez gets back at him provided he doesn‘t get screwed in the scoring.