Lomachenko (6-1, 4 KOs) and Walters are stablemates at Top Rank Promotions and promoter Bob Arum assures boxing fans the fight will be typical of both fighters’ record of ending their fights by way of knockout wins.
“Boxing fans will be able to spend their Thanksgiving holiday weekend feasting on the year’s most anticipated showdown,” Top Rank chairman Bob Arum said in making the fight official. “Forget their weight class. With more than three-quarters of their victories coming by way of knockout, they punch and win like heavyweights. We know how the fight is going to end. The question is: Which fighter will end it?”
Walters (26-0-1, 21 KOs), who is coming off a draw against Jason Sosa last year. has been inactive for almost a year. Before the Sosa fight, Walters scored a unanimous decision win over Miguel Mariaga in June 2015 at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Walter’s popularity soared when he knocked out Nonito Donaire in the sixth round of their tittle fight at the StubHub Center in Carson, California in 2014.
Walters said a knockout can happen to any boxer at anytime, but for this fight, he looks forward to a knockout win.
“Any fighter can be knocked out, no matter who he is,” Walters said. “I like fighting the best, and I like fighting against a great technical fighter like Lomachenko. Look at what happened when I fought a great technical fighter like Nonito Donaire.” he added.
While Walters has 28 fights to his credit since turning pro in 2008 and has remained unbeaten in his career, Lomachengko is a greenhorn as a pro with only seven fights to his credit.
But the 28-year-old Ukrainian has an impressive record as an amateur boxer, having fought 396 times with only one loss. He is a two-time Olympic gold medalist in the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympics.
Lomachennko will be defending his title for the first time.
