Vasyl Lomachenko

Vasyl Lomachenko
Василь Ломаченко

Lomachenko in 2012
Statistics
Real name Vasyl Anatoliyovich Lomachenko
Nickname(s) Hi-Tech
Rated at
Height 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Reach 165 cm (65 in)
Nationality Ukrainian
Born (1988-02-17) 17 February 1988
Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi,
Ukrainian SSR,
Soviet Union (now Ukraine)
Stance Southpaw
Boxing record
Total fights 8
Wins 7
Wins by KO 5
Losses 1
Medal record
Men's amateur boxing
Representing  Ukraine
Olympic Games
2008 Beijing Featherweight
2012 London Lightweight
World Championships
2009 Milan Featherweight
2011 Baku Lightweight
2007 Chicago Featherweight
European Championships
2008 Liverpool Featherweight

Vasyl Anatoliyovich Lomachenko (Ukrainian: Василь Анатолійович Ломаченко; born 17 February 1988) is a Ukrainian professional boxer.[1] He has held the WBO junior lightweight title since June 2016, having previously held the WBO featherweight title from 2014 to 2016. Known for his excellent hand speed, timing, accuracy, creativity, and lateral movement, Lomachenko is one of the most highly rated fighters in boxing today, as well as arguably the greatest amateur boxer of all time.[2] Competing in the featherweight and lightweight divisions as an amateur, he won a silver medal at the 2007 World Championships, consecutive golds at the 2009 and 2011 World Championships, and consecutive golds at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.

Early life

A Ukrainian from the multi-ethnic port city of Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi in southern Ukraine, Lomachenko was coached by his father Anatoly from a young age. He claims that if his father had not been a boxing coach he probably would have chosen to play ice hockey professionally.[1]

Amateur career

At the World Championships 2007 in Chicago he beat Abner Cotto in the first round, Theodoros Papazov, Arturo Santos Reyes, and Li Yang in the semifinal to reach a fight against Russian favorite Albert Selimov, another southpaw, to whom he lost, 11:16.

Lomachenko won gold at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. He avenged his 2007 World Championship defeat by Selimov in the first round. Lomachenko beat his five opponents by an astonishing 58-13 on the way to his first gold medal, and was subsequently named the outstanding boxer for the tournament and awarded the Val Barker Trophy.

In 2012 London Olympics he won his second consecutive Gold Medal. He defeated Han Soon-Chul of South Korea in the final by 19-9.

Lomachenko finished his amateur career with a career record of 396-1, with only loss, to Albert Selimov, avenged twice.[3][4]

World Amateur Championships results

2007

2009[5]

2011

Olympic Games results

2008

2012

European Championships results

2008

World Series of Boxing

Prior to turning professional, Lomachenko competed in the lightweight division of the now-defunct World Series of Boxing from January to May 2013. Despite having six fights in this tournament, some outlets would later claim that those fights should have counted towards Lomachenko's professional record prior to his official debut later that year.[7]

Professional career

Featherweight

After winning his second Olympic gold medal, Lomachenko made the decision to turn professional. After meeting with several fight promoters, he signed a contract to fight for Top Rank. Lomachenko made his professional debut in United States on 12 October 2013 as part of the undercard to Timothy Bradley vs. Juan Manuel Márquez, defeating Mexican fighter José Ramirez with a fourth-round knockout.[3]

Lomachenko vs. Salido

Lomachenko's bid to make history by winning a world championship in his second fight and break Saensak Muangsurin's record ended in failure. He challenged Orlando Salido for the featherweight World Boxing Organization's title. However, Lomachenko shied from engaging Salido throughout most of the fight, something that his opponent exploited. A late surge, which saw him injure Salido in the final round, was unable to change the final result as Salido won via twelfth round split decision.

Boxing magazines mentioned the conduct of the referee, Salido's dirty boxing and weight issues that are outlined in Orlando Salido vs. Vasyl Lomachenko controversy as contributing factors to Lomachenko's loss.[8][9][10]

Lomachenko vs. Russell, Jr.

On June 22, 2014, Lomachenko defeated Gary Russell Jr. via twelve-round majority decision to win the vacant WBO featherweight title. In doing so he joined Saensak Muangsurin as the only other boxer to have won a world title in the quickest amount of time since turning professional, accomplishing the feat in just his third professional bout.[11]

Lomachenko vs. Piriyapinyo

Lomachenko made his first title defense against mandatory challenger Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo of Thailand. This fight took place on the undercard of the Pacquiao vs. Algieri on HBO PPV bout. Lomachenko handled his opponent easily, hurting him a few times and scoring a knockdown at the end of the fourth round. In the seventh round, Lomachenko stopped using his left hand; it was later confirmed that he injured that hand. Lomachenko won a UD with the scores of 120-107 on all three of the judges' scorecards.

Lomachenko vs. Rodriguez, Koasicha

Lomachenko successfully defeated Gamalier Rodriguez via knockout in Round 9 on the under-card of Mayweather-Pacquiao.[12]

Lomachenko returned on the Tim Bradley vs. Brandon Rios under-card on HBO. He overwhelmed, dominated and stopped Romulo Koasicha in the tenth round on a body shot.[13]

Super featherweight

Lomachenko vs. Martinez

Following a third successful defense, Lomachenko, still the reigning WBO featherweight champion decided to move up weight to super featherweight to challenge Roman 'Rocky' Martinez (29-2-3, 17 KOs) for his WBO super featherweight title on June 11 at the Madison Square Garden Theater. Lomachenko became the fastest boxer to win a world title in two weight divisions knocking out Martinez in the 5th round of the world title fight. Lomachenko dominated the fight from the start with superior footwork, hand speed and slick punching from different angles. According to CompuBox research, Lomachenko out-landed Martinez 87 to 34. After the fight, Lomachenko called out Orlando Salido, "Hey Salido, I'm ready to fight you at any time, before the Vargas fight, I told him to win the fight but I never told him I wasn't going to fight him if he didn't, so let's do it. I want to revenge Salido for my fans and give them a win over him."[14]

Lomachenko vs. Walters

After failing to make the fight happen earlier in the year, Top Rank vice president Carl Moretti confirmed on September 28 that Lomachenko would defend his WBO title against 30 year old unbeaten Jamaican boxer Nicholas Walters (26-0-1, 21 KOs) at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas on November 26 on HBO.[15]

After Lomachenko dominated the first six rounds with his movement, he threw more combination punches in the sixth which left Walters visibly shaken. Lomachenko won the fight after Walters retired on his stall at the end of the seventh round. Upon returning to his corner, Walters got up and walked to referee Tony Weeks, where he reiterated twice he did not want to continue. A lot of boos followed the confirmation of the fight as Walters seemed to back himself up for not returning for round 7, blaming his inactivity in the ring, "Listen to me, if I get the chance to fight two or three fights leading up to this fight, I'll definitely take him on in different circumstances where we are more active and definitely beat him but it was all him tonight.... he fought me with three fights this year. So it was all him tonight... Nothing take away from him, he's a very good fighter, I learned a lot from fighting him and it was seven rounds of beautiful boxing until my corner decided to end it."[16][17]

Compubox stats showed Lomachenko landed 114 of 437 punches thrown (26 percent) while Walters landed 49 of 264 (19 percent). Lomachenko earned his first $1 million purse. Following the post fight, Arum told ESPN, he would like to make a rematch with Salido next, followed by a lightweight title fight against Terry Flanagan and then a super fight with Manny Pacquiao. The fight drew 761,000 viewers on HBO.[18][19]

Professional boxing record

Professional record summary
8 fights 7 wins 1 loss
By knockout 5 0
By decision 2 1
No. Result Record Opponent Type Round, time Date Location Notes
8 Win 7–1 Jamaica Nicholas Walters RTD 7 (12), 3:00 26 Nov 2016 United States Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Paradise, Nevada, US Retained WBO junior lightweight title
7 Win 6–1 Puerto Rico Román Martínez KO 5 (12), 1:09 11 Jun 2016 United States The Theater at Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, US Won WBO junior lightweight title
6 Win 5–1 Mexico Romulo Koasicha KO 10 (12), 2:35 7 Nov 2015 United States Thomas & Mack Center, Paradise, Nevada, US Retained WBO featherweight title
5 Win 4–1 Puerto Rico Gamalier Rodriguez KO 9 (12), 0:50 2 May 2015 United States MGM Grand Garden Arena, Paradise, Nevada, US Retained WBO featherweight title
4 Win 3–1 Thailand Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo UD 12 22 Nov 2014 Macau Cotai Arena, Macau, SAR Retained WBO featherweight title
3 Win 2–1 United States Gary Russell Jr. MD 12 21 Jun 2014 United States StubHub Center, Carson, California, US Won vacant WBO featherweight title
2 Loss 1–1 Mexico Orlando Salido SD 12 1 Mar 2014 United States Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas, US For vacant WBO featherweight title
1 Win 1–0 Mexico Jose Ramirez TKO 4 (10), 2:55 12 Oct 2013 United States Thomas & Mack Center, Paradise, Nevada, US Won WBO International featherweight title;
Professional debut

Titles in boxing

Regional titles
Preceded by
Jose Ramirez		 WBO International featherweight champion
12 October 2013 – February 2014
Vacated 		Vacant
Title next held by
Marvin Sonsona
World titles
Vacant
Title last held by
Orlando Salido		 WBO featherweight champion
21 June 2014 – 21 July 2016
Vacated 		Vacant
Title next held by
Óscar Valdez
Preceded by
Román Martínez		 WBO junior lightweight champion
11 June 2016 – present 		Incumbent

References

  1. 1 2 Lomachenko lapping up the applause, International Boxing Association (September 14, 2009)
  2. ↑ "Lomachenko determined to be great". Retrieved 12 June 2016.
  3. 1 2 Scott Christ (October 12, 2013). "Bradley vs Marquez results: Vasyl Lomachenko dominates in pro debut". Bad Left Hook.
  4. ↑ "Twitter /Vasyl Lomachenko". Twitter.com. Retrieved 2014-06-22.
  5. ↑ DAILY RESULTS, International Boxing Association
  6. ↑ "Medallists by weight category" (PDF). AIBA. Retrieved 16 November 2008.
  7. ↑ Fischer, Doug (3 March 2014). "Vasyl Lomachenko, The WSB and the Record-Keeping Divide". The Ring. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  8. ↑ "Learning Curve: Vasyl Lomachenko proves quality in first pro loss". Bad Left Hook. March 2, 2014.
  9. ↑ "What Vasyl Lomachenko's letdown Saturday means for his future". Yahoo! Sports. March 2, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Referee Laurence Cole discusses Orlando Salido-Vasyl Lomachenko". The Ring. March 6, 2014.
  11. ↑ "BBC Sport - Vasyl Lomachenko wins world title in third pro fight". BBC Sport. June 21, 2014.
  12. ↑ "Result: Vasyl Lomachenko stops Gamalier Rodriguez to defend WBO featherweight title".
  13. ↑ http://www.skysports.com/boxing/news/12040/10061030/vasyl-lomachenko-stopped-romulo-koasicha-to-remain-wbo-lightweight-world-champion
  14. ↑ "Lomachenko KO's Martinez for 130-pound title". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2016-06-12.
  15. ↑ "Lomachenko, Walters agree to bout on Nov. 26". Retrieved 2016-09-28.
  16. ↑ "Nicholas Walters explains decision to quit against Vasyl Lomachenko". November 28, 2016. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  17. ↑ "Vasyl Lomachenko dominates stops Nicholas Walters in seven". November 27, 2016. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  18. ↑ "Nicholas Walters quits after Vasyl Lomachenko dishes out seven-round boxing lesson". boxingjunkie.usatoday.com/. November 27, 2016. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  19. ↑ "Loma-Walters HBO broadcast views". November 30, 2016. Retrieved December 1, 2016.

External links

Awards
Previous:
Keith Thurman		 The Ring Prospect of the Year
2013 		Next:
Anthony Joshua
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/4/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.