Richard Commey to have MRI on injured right hand, Lomachenko fight possibly in doubt

Richard Commey, who knocked out Isa Chaniev on Saturday to win a vacant lightweight world title, suffered a right-hand injury during the bout, which could potentially derail his next fight against one of the top pound-for-pound boxers in the world.

Commey is slated to fight two-belt lightweight world champion Vasiliy Lomachenko in a world title unification fight on April 12 at Staples Center in Los Angeles in the main event of a Top Rank Boxing on ESPN+ card.

Lou DiBella, Commey's promoter, told ESPN on Tuesday that the issue is the ligament on his fighter's right hand. Commey visited a hand specialist on Tuesday, and the doctor should give a prognosis by Thursday about whether Commey will be able to fight Lomachenko.

Commey (28-2, 25 KO's), 31, of Ghana, lost a disputed split decision to former world champion Robert Easter Jr. in his first shot at the 135-pound crown in September 2016. In his second opportunity, Commey made the most of it, brutalizing Chaniev (13-2, 6 KO's), 26, of Russia, who was fighting for his first world title. Commey knocked Chaniev down three times en route to a crushing knockout.

Lomachenko (12-1, 9 KO's), a Ukraine native who trains out of Oxnard, California, is a three-division world champion and a dual Olympic gold medalist. Even if Commey is healthy enough to fight Lomachenko in April, it could still be a huge risk to face him with even the slightest injury. Lomachenko has knocked out eight of his last nine opponents, including former titlist Jorge Linares, who he stopped in a May 2018 unification fight despite tearing his labrum earlier in the bout.