They say form is temporary and class is permanent.
Sunday in Perth, Australia double-Olympic and three-division ‘world’ professional champion Vasiliy Lomachenko proved it once again by regaining the IBF lightweight (9st, 9lbs/135lbs) title in his opponent’s backyard.
In front of approximately 15,000 raucious Aussies, the Ukrainian future hall-of-famer ‘Loma’ was supreme, dropping George Kambosos Jnr twice en-route to becoming a ‘world’ champion again via a late eleventh round stoppage.
The nature of victory was emphatic belying Lomachencko’s 36 years.
Fighting out of his familiar southpaw stance and carefully navigating and commanding the ringcentre with his ‘Matrix’ custom-like style he bossed the fight, regularly targetting the Aussie’s body with pinpoint accuracy.
The left hook sortie that brought Kambosos’ end was spectacular.
The former undisputed champion, Kambosos, now 21-3, 10 KOs, was competitive and brave throughout but was no match for Lomachenko’s technical superiority in the end.
With the Fury-Usyk undisputed world heavyweight fight coming up this weekend (Saturday 18th) this was a big fillip for Ukrainian patriotism and that nation’s ongoing struggle. Whether the co-London 2012 Olympic champion can pull off something similar this weekend is still up for debate, but, it should serve as additional inspiration for Usyk. Both Ukrainian fighters are close knit.
Despite a few years in boxing on the outside looking in and, a slide down the pound-for-pound ratings with successive losses to Teofimo Lopez and Devin Haney, Lomachenko has bounced back substantially and can now look forward to future big fights, if he so wishes.
Since the Russian invasion of his homeland in February 2022 he has understandably been pre-occupied by events, even serving in their defence corp at one point. It will continue to still occupy his mind and hopes regardless. He has though, at best, got his boxing career back on track, and we can look forward to a continuing exhibition of his skills.
Lomachenko (18-3, 12 KOs) was The Ring magazine 2017 fighter of the year and a regular in their pound-for-pound ratings up until recently. The big fights that may happen and he could re-cement his status are against American’s Shakur Stevenson (WBC champ) or Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis (WBA champ). Recent victor Ryan Garcia may also be on the horizon.
For the time being, post-fight Loma commended his opponent’s skills and bravery but dedicated his newly won belt to his father and trainer Anatoly and that he now wanted to go home to his family. He had earned it.
Honourable mention also goes to Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion and Welsh heroine Lauren Price, who emphatically beat American Jessica McCaskill in Cardiff, Wales to win the undisputed women’s world welterweight (10st, 7lbs/ 147lbs) championship. Her performance was flawless in clearly outpointing and ultimately stopping her classy opponent via a badly swollen left eye after eight completed rounds.
McCaskill (12-4-1, 5 KOs) was brave throughout, but simply outskilled by the Welsh southpaw. A bright future undoubtedly awaits the new quality champion Price (7-0, 1 KO).
The Undisputed 