Vasyl Lomachenko won’t join Terence Crawford in lobbying for fighter of the year

Vasyl Lomachenko has proven himself willing to engage in any fight offered him, except the the one that’ll be decided outside the ring.

Minutes after overwhelming fellow two-time Olympic gold medalist Guillermo Rigondeaux, who quit on his stool after the sixth round Saturday night at the Theater at Madison Square Garden, Lomachenko declined to campaign for the fighter-of-the-year award that 2014 winner Terence Crawford is aggressively seeking.

“It’s already won. I won it already. Why wouldn’t I have?” Crawford asked two members of the Boxing Writers Assn. of America who’ll decide the award.

The case for the unbeaten Crawford is hooked to his August knockout of Julius Indongo to win the fourth major belt for the 140-pound junior-welterweight division. Before that, Crawford stopped Felix Diaz after 10 rounds.

Yet Lomachenko’s impressive Saturday victory was his third triumph of the year; Crawford fought twice. Crawford doesn’t see that as a problem after going 3-0 in 2016 and finishing behind Northern Ireland’s Carl Frampton, who fought twice.

“I won the [fourth] belt, [so] it shouldn’t even be up for debate,” Crawford (32-0, 23 knockouts) said. “You tell me right now why I shouldn’t [win]? Three fights [for Lomachenko], but who did he fight that amounts to … ?”

Lomachenko previously stopped former featherweight title challenger Miguel Marriaga and Jason Sosa, who also failed to answer a bell.

When Crawford was told he has a “good chance” to win, he replied, “It’s not a good chance. I feel like I’ve won it.”

He’s not getting any resistance from Lomachenko, who maintained what he said even before fighting Rigondeaux, who lost for the first time since 2003.

“He’s not in my weight class. He’s not in my weight category. I like to fight guys my size,” Lomachenko said, pointing to unbeaten lightweight champion Mikey Garcia as his ideal next foe, although his promoter is expected to first seek fellow super-featherweight champion Miguel Berchelt for a possible March date. “I want big, big fights.”

Asked if dominating Rigondeaux, who never landed more than three punches in a round, boosts his fighter-of-the-year case, Lomachenko flatly said no.

Three wins, he was reminded.

“So what? Not three big wins. It’s not my weight, not my size,” Lomachenko repeated. “It’s not big for me. Maybe it’s big for people who love boxing, but not for me.”

That doesn’t eliminate him from the running. The fact that Lomachenko doesn’t want to boast could charm voters, who are well aware that by retiring Rigondeaux on the stool, Lomachenko now has a four-fight streak of doing so.

Bob Arum, the veteran promoter who handles both Crawford and Lomachenko, said he sees a difference in the Ukrainian’s favor.

“Crawford could’ve competed with a Sugar Ray Leonard, guys like that. Crawford belonged with the really great fighters, and is a sensational fighter,” Arum said. Lomachenko “is super-human. When have you ever seen anything like this? Rigondeaux couldn’t hit him with anything. Something really, really spectacular.

“This guy is super special. He’ll make a joke out of [World Boxing Assn. lightweight champion Jorge] Linares. He’ll make a joke of Garcia.”

Arum predicted those fights can happen thanks to his company’s network deal with ESPN.

“They’ll all come. With ESPN behind this, we have plenty of money to offer these fighters, and ESPN wants the best,” Arum said.