Vasiliy Lomachenko is ready to return and isn’t looking for a gentle touch to work your way back into the mix.

The previous three-division tracklist and pound-for-pound contestants are confirmed to next face Japanese Masayoshi Nakatani. The fight will take place live on an ESPN platform operated by Virgin Hotels Las Vegas on June 26th.

Confirmation of the date and venue was aired by ESPN’s Mark Kriegel during an ESPN + boxing show. The undisputed Junior World Welterweight Championship between the undefeated and unified title lists Jose Carlos Ramirez (WBC / WBO title; 26-0, 17KOs) and Josh Taylor (WBA / IBF; 17-0, 13KOs) instead.

The Ukrainian Lomachenko (14-2, 10KOs) fights for the first time since the end of his unified lightweight title reign in a unanimous 12-round loss to Teofimo Lopez (16-0, 12KOs) in his WBA / IBF / WBO unification fight in last October at the MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas. The setback was Lomachenko’s first loss since his second professional fight when the two-time featherweight Olympic champion barely showed up against Orlando Salido in March 2014.

The setback against Lopez was a bitter pill for Lomachenko, who subsequently went under the knife to surgically repair his right shoulder. The 33-year-old south paw is completely healed after leaving a series of excuses – many of which insisted they were lost in interviews from interviews in his native language – to embark on yet another title run that he was hopes.

Nakatani (19-1-1, 13KOs) is fighting for the first time since an exciting round of 16 against Felix Verdejo from Puerto Rico last December, which also took place in the MGM bubble. The 5’11½ ”dropped out twice in the fight, following with 77-74, 78-72 and 78-72 before dropping Verdejo twice in the ninth round for the angry knockout win. The fight has been hailed as one of the best of 2020 by many outlets.

It was also a big win for Nakatani, who had suffered his only career defeat 15 months earlier. It was a highly competitive twelve-round decision for Brooklyn’s Lopez, who won his first lightweight title one fight later in a round of 16 against Richard Commey. The duel against Lomachenko will be Nakatani’s third straight in the US, previously fought exclusively in Japan.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox