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Vasyl Lomachenko and Teofimo Lopez sign contracts for mouthwatering October 17 unification fight

VASYL LOMACHENKO and Teofimo Lopez have signed contracts to face each other in an October 17 unification bout.

The lightweight pair had been in line to box in April, until the coronavirus pandemic KO’d the clash.

Vasyl Lomachenko and Teofimo Lopez have signed contracts to face each other
Lopez is in line to face Lomachenko in an October 17 unification bout

And despite the delay, the champions appear to have agreed terms to fight next month.

Lomachenko, 32, will put up his WBC Franchise, WBA and WBO belts while Lopez, 23, defends his IBF title.

Top Rank uploaded pictures on Twitter with duo signing on the dotted line.

The crisis has caused the unification to be moved from pay-per-view to a regular ESPN headliner.

And it is also set to go behind closed doors at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas.

Lomachenko also revealed he took a pay cut to make sure the fight could be agreed, with the Ukrainian now in line to pocket £2.7million.

Unbeaten Lopez had rejected an initial £900,000 offer, but eventually came to terms with Top Rank for an undisclosed increase.

The American’s father and trainer Teofimo Sr predicted his son will beat Lomachenko, move up to light-welterweight and retire having bettered Floyd Mayweather’s legendary 50-0 career.

He told AB Boxing: “My son is the first person to win a world title from Honduras.

“Sooner or later after he unifies the 140 pound weight division as well they are going to make a monument of him in Honduras.

“We’re going to accomplish even bigger things than Floyd did.”