By Ian S Palmer
Former WBA Super World, and WBO Lightweight Champ Vasyl Lomachenko of Ukraine will be taking on former IBF Lightweight Champion Richard Commey of Accra, Ghana this Saturday, December 11th. The 12-round lightweight bout from Madison Square Garden in New York City can be seen live in America on ESPN and ESPN+ while Canadian fans can catch it on TSN 2 and those in the UK can tune into Sky Sports Arena. Lomachenko last fought in June when he stopped Masayoshi Nakatani in the ninth round. Commey last saw action in February when he halted Jackson Marinez in the sixth round.
The 33-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 last year and is now trying to work his way back into a world title shot. He owns a a pro record of 15-2 with 11 Kos 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 152 rounds since turning pro with a current knockout ratio of 64.7 per cent. Lomachenko was becoming a more aggressive boxer with each passing fight but threw far too few punches against Lopez in the first half of their fight.
Commey is now 34 years old and is also on the comeback trail after a devastating second-round knockout loss at the hands of Teofimo Lopez in 2019. He enters the fight with a mark of 30-3 with 27 Kos. Commey won the vacant IBF Lightweight Title with a second-round stoppage over Isa Chaniev in February, 2019, then stopped Ray Beltran in the eighth round in his first defence in June.
He won the title in his second shot at it as he fought Robert Easter for the vacant belt in 2016 and dropped him in the eighth round but lost a split decision. His other career loss came three months later when he dropped another split decision, this time to Denis Shafikov. Commey turned pro in 2011 and has boxed 179 rounds since then. He’ obviously got some power as 27 of his 30 wins have been by stoppage and his current knockout ratio is an impressive 81.8 per cent.
He stands 5-feet-8-inches tall with a reach of 71 inches which gives him an inch edge in height on Lomachenko and 5.5 inches in reach. Commey’s biggest career wins have been against the likes of Chaniev, Beltran, Bilal Mohammad, Gary Buckland and Yardley Cruz. Since turning pro, he has also won the Ghanaian, IBF Continental Africa, African Boxing Union, Commonwealth, IBF Inter-Continental, and WBC International Silver Lightweight Titles.
Prediction…
Lomachenko is still an excellent boxer regardless of his loss to Lopez. He simply didn’t throw any punches for the first half of that contest and gave away too many rounds so has only himself to blame. When he did begin to fight back, he had Lopez confused for much of the remainder of the fight. He needs to be wary of Commey’s power and reach so will need to work his way inside, strike and then make sure he’s not in the way of any return fire. He certainly has the footwork and skills to achieve that and as long as he doesn’t walk into something on the chin he Lomachenko should be able to have his hand held up Saturday night.
