By Ian S Palmer
Former WBA Super World, and WBO Lightweight Champ Vasyl Lomachenko of Ukraine will be back in the ring this Saturday, October 29th when he takes on Jamaine Ortiz of Worcester, Massachusetts. The 12-round lightweight bout can be seen live in America on ESPN+ while fans in the UK can catch it on Sky Sports Action and those in Canada can catch it on TSN 4. Lomachenko last fought in December when he beat former IBF Lightweight Champion Richard Commey by a wide 12-round unanimous decision after dropping him in the seventh round. Ortiz last saw action in May when he beat former world champion Jamel Herring via 10-round unanimous decision to retain the NABF Lightweight Crown and win the vacant IBF USBA belt.
The 34-year-old southpaw Lomachenko, known as ‘Hi Tech’, also held the WBO Super Featherweight and Featherweight titles earlier in his career and now fights out of Oxnard, California. He lost his lightweight belts in a controversial unanimous decision to Teofimo Lopez two years ago and is now trying to work his way back into a world title shot. He owns a pro record of 16-2 with 11 Ko’s and before losing to Lopez was generally considered by many to be the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world.
Lomachenko’s first loss came at the hands of Orlando Salido by controversial split decision in March, 2014 in his second pro fight. He turned pro in 2013 after winning two Olympic gold medals for his homeland in 2008 and 2012. Lomachenko obviously enjoyed an excellent and extensive amateur career and then won the WBO Featherweight crown against Gary Russell Jr. via majority decision in June, 2014. He defended it against Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo, Gamalier Rodriguez, and Romulo Koasicha before moving up in weight.
He beat Roman Martinez by fifth-round KO in June, 2016 for the Super Featherweight Title and defended it against Nicholas Walters, Jason Sosa, Miguel Marriaga and Guillermo Rigondeaux. He beat Jorge Linares for the WBA Super World Lightweight Crown by 10th-round stoppage in May, 2018 and defended it while adding the WBO Lightweight Title by unanimous decision over Jose Pedraza in December, 2018. The vacant WBC Lightweight Title was added in 2019 with a unanimous decision over a game Luke Campbell.
Lomachenko possesses fantastic footwork, speed, and accuracy with good power and overall ring generalship, which often leaves his opponents totally frustrated. The former champ has a good chin, but Linares did drop him in the sixth round. In general, Lomachenko tends to break his opponents down with solid combinations and body and head shots. He stands 5-feet-7-inches tall and has a wingspan of 65.5 inches. He’s fought 164 rounds since turning pro with a current knockout ratio of 61.1 per cent.
The 26-year-old Ortiz enters the contest a near-perfect mark of 16-0-1 with 8 Ko’s and has boxed 87 rounds since making his pro debut in 2015. He enjoyed a pretty good amateur career but was beaten by the likes of Jaron Ennis, Teofimo Lopez and Gary Antuanne Russell before turning pro. Ortiz stands 5-feet-8-inches tall with a 69-inch reach which gives him a one-inch edge in height and 3.5-inches in reach on Lomachenko.
As far as power goes, Ortiz carries around a current knockout ratio of 47.1 per cent. The lone draw on his record was an eight-round majority affair with Joseph Adorno three fights ago in April, 2021. He’s definitely taking a step up in class again this this weekend after beating Herring as Ortiz’s biggest victories as a pro before that were against the likes of Derrick Murray, Vitor Jones and Romain Couture.
Since turning pro Ortiz has also captured the vacant WBC Youth World Lightweight Title, the vacant WBC Youth Inter-Continental Super Lightweight Belt and the vacant WBC (USNBC) Silver Lightweight Title. Ortiz also took the vacant NABF Lightweight Championship with his win over Nahir Albright in February of this year.
Prediction…
Lomachenko is still an excellent boxer regardless of his loss to Lopez and his advancing age. However, he must let his hands go to be so. He didn’t throw any punches for the first half of the fight against Lopez and paid for it dearly. Ortiz is a solid young pro with a pretty good future ahead of him and is eight years younger than his opponent, but I don’t think he has enough in his arsenal to beat Lomachenko.
