Vasyl Lomachenko defeats George Kambosos to once more become a world champion and does so in emphatic fashion. Last night we saw the return of ‘No Mas-Chenko’ who after performing a technical masterclass finished Kambosos with a body shot in round 11. This victory comes after almost a year’s absence from the ring for the master technician.
Lomachenko’s victory
Many wondered if Lomachenko still had great performances like these still in him at age 36 evidently he does. No one doubted that a peak Lomachenko would make easy work of Kambosos however with Loma’s age and recent defeat there was skeptisim. Some feared that the Haney fight would be Lomachenko’s final hurrah with him losing a close decision against Devin Haney. And that the defeat to Haney would dishearten Loma but if anything he seems reinvigorated.
Straight out of the gate in round 1 Lomachenko showed that there are levels finding his range and target quite quickly. With each round Loma continued to build on the last. Every time Kambosos would throw lomachenko would dodge and counter landing combinations of his own and would just pressure Kambosos. Despite his age and slowing down a bit his skill and talent is very much still there.
By the time the fight reached round 11 Kambosos had been utterly dominated and was dropped with a viscious left to the body taking a knee. Although he managed to beat the count as soon as he was up Lomachenko was on him. Loma landed a body another body shot which although blocked put Kambosos down again and Kambosos corner threw in the towel.
The Situation at 135
With this win Loma has claimed the vacant IBF world title the one belt that he had evaded him at 135. This win also sets up Vasyl Lomachenko beautifully for another run at undisputed. Emanuel Navarrete will be fighting Denys Berinchyk for the vacant WBO world title on the 18th of May. Regardless of the winner both fighters are signed to Top Rank same as Lomachenko so a unification should be easy to make.
Shakur Stevenson is the current WBC world champion who although previously was with Top Rank is now a free agent. Shakur also has a fight lined up with Artem Harutyunyan for the 6th of July and should win. The Shakur fight may be more difficult to make based on Shakur’s refusal to re-sign with Top Rank. Shakur also may move up in weight in which case the belt will be vacant. But he does seem interested in a Loma fight in a Tweet saying “There won’t be another undisputed in this weight class without going through me”. Suggesting he’ll be staying at 135 and willing to fight.
Gervonta Davis is the current WBA world champ and is signed with PBC who are notoriously difficult to work with if you’re not signed with them. Davis also has a fight lined up against Frank Martin for the 15th of June. Tank should win but getting a fight with him is likely the most difficult.
The Future for Loma
So really Loma has plenty of options and with his goal of undisputed he will be seeking unifications. He should first pursue the winner of Navarette vs Berinchyk as that fight will be the easiest to make and is the most winnable. If he wins there he will hold the IBF and WBO titles and should pursue Shakur. The Shakur fight is the most tricky in terms of Loma winning with how skilled Shakur is has his size advantage. Something which has previously troubled Loma before against Haney and Lopez. And if he beats Shakur this mounts a lot of pressure on Davis to unify.
And with Loma as a potentially unified champion Turki Alalshikh may express interest. His excellency has shown a remarkable ability to make difficult fights which the fans want. So he may be able to get a fight between Loma and Tank for undisputed made. Loma does have the skillset to defeat Tank however Tank’s power is the great equaliser. Loma has also shown hesitancy against big punchers such as Lopez which cost him the fight. But if Loma has learnt from that loss and remains as good as he looked there he can beat Davis.
Obviously this is built on a lot of ifs mainly Loma being able to beat the other champions. But, the main takeaway is that Vasyl Lomachenko’s dreams for undisputed even at 36 are very much alive.
Featured image credit to Embed from Getty Images
