Last Saturday, the
boxing world was treated to an almost punch-perfect display by arguably the
greatest amateur of all time, Vasyl ‘Hi-Tech’ Lomachenko, as he took apart WBO
super-featherweight champion Roman ‘Rocky’ Martinez at Madison Square Gardens,
New York. The Ukrainian has taken to the pro ranks like a duck to water and in
only his seventh professional fight he has already become a two weight world
champion.
It was clear that Rocky
Martinez was going to be in for a long night from the opening bell with
Lomachenko simply being the faster, stronger and simply fresher fighter. The
two-time Olympic gold medallist got to work straight away, landing straight
left hand after straight left hand and Martinez just did not have an answer to
his superior footwork.
The awkward southpaw
landed a vicious left upper-cut and right hook combination which sent Martinez
sprawling to the canvass in the 5th round and unable to beat the
referee’s ten count. Bob Arum claimed that this was the ‘birth of a superstar’
and it is tough to deny the potential pound for pound status of Lomachenko.
Although Martinez’s
best days are well behind him, it was still, as always, an impressive
performance by Lomachenko whose style is every boxing purist’s idea of heaven. Instead
of moving in and out of range he stays in the pocket using his superb movement
to make his opposition look like ten fight novices.
Where does Lomachenko
go from here? It must be said that the southpaw looked far more comfortable at
the 130 lb limit than he had done at featherweight as his punches seemed to
have far more snap on them. Furthermore, there are some huge fights for him at
super-featherweight which is fast becoming one of the most stacked divisions in
boxing.
The likes of Nicholas
Walters, Takashi Miura, Francisco Vargas and Jezreel Corrales are all in the
mix and there is no doubt that Lomachenko will have his sights set on these big
names. It must be said that although he is now technically a two weight world
champion Lomachenko is yet to win either the Ring or the Lineal titles and this
is something that he will look to do in the near future.
The fight that all fans
want to see is the rematch with Orlando Salido who inflicted the only loss of Lomachenko’s
career in just his second fight. However many things were wrong with that fight
as Salido came in overweight and there was no re-hydration clause set which
meant that the Mexican came to the ring with a huge weight advantage. There is
no doubt that Lomachenko will want to avenge this defeat and there is no reason
why this fight will not get made at the end of the year.
Tom Eckett
No comments:
Post a Comment