Vasyl Lomachenko

NWsoccerfan

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Linares is a B- level fighter. The fight will not go the distance. Loma with a late round KO.
Agreed. Linares has a pretty good resume but he will have little to offer against Lomachenko. I think late or even possibly a mid round stoppage in this fight.
 

NWsoccerfan

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^^^^^^^^

I'm thrilled to read this. Lomachenko should not fall into the trap of moving up and up and up in weight. They love to pressure fighters into doing this until they are fighting guys 20 pounds heavier and 5 inches taller than them. Manny Pacquiao played that game which is one of the reasons he struggled to put guys away in the recent years. Pacquiao is a true welterweight, so if he dropped a few pounds and cut water, he could easily and comfortably make 135 in my opinion. Lomachenko and Pacquiao would be a really fun one to watch and Lomachenko winning it would be another gold star on his resume.
 

white is right

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I initially thought that the minor upset that happened on the ESPN card was going to send a monkey wrench into the plans of "Bub", matching Loma and Beltran in the late fall, but it looks like Pedraza signed a similar contract to fight Loma late in the year in a unification fight.

I guess a low 7 figure purse does wonders on getting camps to agree on unification fights. On a side note Pedraza looks like a full blooded Euro so this is an all White unification fight......http://www.espn.com/boxing/story/_/...tran-unanimous-decision-win-lightweight-title
 
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The Hock

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Another good one. Have to be somewhere but I hope I can catch a replay.

One good thing about HBO was they repeated the fight. ESPN not so much.
 

white is right

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The scary thing about this fight for any opponent of Loma is that Pedraza was holding his own with Loma for the first 8 rounds or so and then Loma took his speed and aggression up a level and went back to looking like a Saturday afternoon martial arts matinee film actor ie Sony Chiba and the competitive fight was over.

I think the only reason Pedraza went the distance is because of his size advantage. If Pedraza was a natural featherweight he would have been counted after taking the first barrage of power punches that made him slither to the canvas.
 

Westside

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Loma once in a generation fighter. His opponent after the 7th was there to survive. He was crafty but Loma too good. The Hock, just go to YouTube in a day or so, they will have the fight.
 

Shadowlight

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For those that missed the fight it is being replayed tonight on ESPN2 at 8:00 PM EST. I actually missed the last three rounds but saw highlights of Loma destroying Pedraza in the 11th round.

Yes Loma is special. At first I thought they would have the obnoxious Teddy Atlas in the announcing booth but thankfully they have relegated him to the mop up section.

Loma is the rare white sublime athlete that ESPN adores. Mike Trout and Roger Federer are other supreme high level white athletes that readily come to mind that ESPN and the media in general praise to high heaven. And usually a Puerto Rican fighter like Pedraza at MSG would be a popular choice but the crowd was enthusiastically behind Loma.

Even ESPN resident big mouth Stephen A Smith is a big fan and he was scoring the bout properly as it went along.

Beyond the fact he is the greatest fighter pound for pound in the world right now and he is a true artist perhaps the fact he is Ukrainian, a USA ally, gives the media someone to cheer for heartily? I suspect if he was Russian the enthusiasm would be a bit more muted.

Nevertheless Loma is among the greatest athletes in the world right.

He is fighting up his natural weight and defeating top of the line fighters with relative ease. Not even sure if his right shoulder is completely healed yet after his surgery but man he is a true boxing artist.
 

TwentyTwo

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Lomachenko may be a bit gun shy after Shoulder surgery? Barely threw the Right Hook. Otherwise this fight may have been done sooner. Was not sure Pedraza was going to make it out of the 11th with all of those flurries. Props to him he is crafty. But he knew Loma was on another Level unlike anything he has ever seen; gave nothing but respect.
 

Odysseus

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Beyond the fact he is the greatest fighter pound for pound in the world right now and he is a true artist perhaps the fact he is Ukrainian, a USA ally, gives the media someone to cheer for heartily? I suspect if he was Russian the enthusiasm would be a bit more muted.

That definitely plays its own role. However, Fedor Emelianenko has been worshiped and adored in USA (I can't understand how the American media allowed that) like no other MMA fighter in history. One way or another, Vasily may be the greatest boxer in the history of the sport. He's definitely a top 2 amateur boxer of all time (I have really hard time to rank him ahead of the greatest boxer to ever live in my opinion, the GREAT Laszlo Papp) and is on his way to become one of the greatest if not the greatest professional boxer of all time. Looking at Loma, Usyk, Klitschkos etc. I can't help but wonder how different boxing history would be if the likes of Laszlo Papp, Boris Lagutin, Oleg Saitov (what a phenom he was), Valeri Popenchenko, Vyacheslav Lemeshev and so many, many more incredible boxers from the former Eastern Bloc could compete on a professional level back in the 50's and 60's and 70's. I can only guess that Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson, Hagler and the rest of them would now be considered "bums" ala Chris Byrd, Jeff Lacy and Jermaine Taylor, while those now "golden" eras of boxing would be considered weak, right? I guess they would would have to go back to Jack Johnson, Joe Gans and Joe Louis to claim their nonsense. The same prime Joe Louis that was destroyed by Max Schmeling, also known as the "human punching bag" in USSR, as he had an unofficial record of 6 wins and 21 losses to Soviet boxers in amateur European tournaments/meetings way before USSR enters the Olympics. If Max could beat Joe Louis, imagine that the Soviets would have done to him.
 

spittle

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That definitely plays its own role. However, Fedor Emelianenko has been worshiped and adored in USA (I can't understand how the American media allowed that) like no other MMA fighter in history. One way or another, Vasily may be the greatest boxer in the history of the sport. He's definitely a top 2 amateur boxer of all time (I have really hard time to rank him ahead of the greatest boxer to ever live in my opinion, the GREAT Laszlo Papp) and is on his way to become one of the greatest if not the greatest professional boxer of all time. Looking at Loma, Usyk, Klitschkos etc. I can't help but wonder how different boxing history would be if the likes of Laszlo Papp, Boris Lagutin, Oleg Saitov (what a phenom he was), Valeri Popenchenko, Vyacheslav Lemeshev and so many, many more incredible boxers from the former Eastern Bloc could compete on a professional level back in the 50's and 60's and 70's. I can only guess that Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson, Hagler and the rest of them would now be considered "bums" ala Chris Byrd, Jeff Lacy and Jermaine Taylor, while those now "golden" eras of boxing would be considered weak, right? I guess they would would have to go back to Jack Johnson, Joe Gans and Joe Louis to claim their nonsense. The same prime Joe Louis that was destroyed by Max Schmeling, also known as the "human punching bag" in USSR, as he had an unofficial record of 6 wins and 21 losses to Soviet boxers in amateur European tournaments/meetings way before USSR enters the Olympics. If Max could beat Joe Louis, imagine that the Soviets would have done to him.
Wow. I registered just to respond to this.

1) Loma is not currently on pace to be the greatest of all time. To do that, he would need to credibly beat world beaters at 140 and/or 147 and get in some historic wars. It's possible, he's a freak athlete and a generational talent, but he's not a big 135'r and he isn't strong or powerful for his weight, so moving up and beating world class guys at 140 or 147 is a huge stretch. I would be shocked if he beat Bud, for instance. He has incredible competition to be in conversation as the GOAT.
2) Usyk should not be compared to those guys. While I rate both Klitschko's very highly in a "head-to-head" sense, Wlad had major weaknesses and failed many of his biggest tests. Ali had no weaknesses and had heart and determination that Wlad couldn't dream of. To say those white fighters you mentioned would make warriors like Ali, SRR, and Hagler look like "bums" is beyond absurd and demonstrates that you either lack a solid understanding of boxing or are utterly deluded by prejudice.
3) Never heard that about Schmeling, but comparing amateur records to prospective success in the pros in hypotheticals is something casuals do. They also fought multiple times a month back then... it was the wild west. When Joe Louis was champ, he was the greatest heavyweight boxer that had ever lived... even greater than my idol, Dempsey. The Fighter X beat fighter Y, and fighter Y beat fighter Z, therefore fighter X beats fighter Z is a prominent boxing trope that is discounted by everyone credible. Styles make fights. Schmeling beat a green Louis after seeing a weakness. Schmeling was an experienced veteran at the time. When they rematched, a sharper Louis demolished him in seconds.
4) We can't predict what any eastern bloc amateur fighter would have achieved in the pro rankings. Tommy Hearns was a soft hitting points guy in the amateurs, but a historic killer in the pros. These are essentially two different sports entirely!

Loma is a monster and the most courageous fighter in boxing right now. If he's marketed appropriately, he will be the new face of boxing.
 

limitless

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That is good news. Loma is in his prime. That punch was soooo crisp, just a short little pop. I want to see Loma school that Gervonta Davis, but chicken Floyd manages him, so I doubt it will ever happen.
 

Charles Martel

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