By Ian S Palmer
There’s a huge lightweight title unification bout in Las Vegas this Saturday, Oct. 17 as WBA Super World, and WBO champ Vasyl Lomachenko of Ukraine will be taking on unbeaten IBF boss Teofimo Lopez of Brooklyn, New York. The 12-rounder from the Bubble at the MGM Grand can be seen live in America on ESPN while those in Canada can catch it on TSN. The southpaw Lomachenko last fought in August, 2019 when he beat Luke Campbell by unanimous decision while Lopez saw action December when he stopped Richard Commey in the second round to win the IBF belt.
The 32-year-old Lomachenko, known as ‘Hi Tech’, has also held the WBO Super Featherweight and Featherweight titles in his career and actually took the vacant WBC Lightweight Title with the win over Campbell. He fights out of Oxnard, California and has a pro record of 14-1 with 10 Kos and is considered by many to be the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world at the moment. Lomachenko’s lone 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 of 2014. He defended it against Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo, Gamalier Rodriguez, and Romulo Koasicha before moving up in weight.
He then beat Roman Martinez by fifth-round KO in June of 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.
Lomachenko possesses fantastic footwork, speed, and accuracy with good power and overall ring generalship, which often leaves his opponents totally frustrated. He’s got 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 131 rounds since turning pro with a current knockout ratio of 66.6 per cent. Lomachenko has become a more aggressive boxer with each passing fight in the pro ranks and his power is becoming a bit more more dominant. Even though he went the distance with Pedraza and Campbell he did drop Pedraza twice in the 11th round.
The 23-year-old Lopez stopped European Lightweight Champion Edis Tatli in the fourth round in April, 2019 to defend his NABF Lightweight Title and earlier in his career won the WBC Continental Americas, USBA, and NABA-USA Lightweight Belts. He’s regarded as one of the sport’s top prospects due to his whirlwind, non-stop style but struggled against Masayoshi Nakatani in July 2019. Still, he has a perfect mark of 15-0 with 12 Kos to his name.
Lopez has exceptional power with a current knockout ratio of 80 per cent but isn’t really a one-punch KO artist even though he nailed Commey perfectly. He usually stops opponents with the sheer volume of punches he throws. Lopez stands 5-feet-8-inches tall with a wingspan of 68.5 inches so has an inch advantage on Lomachenko in height and three inches in reach. Lopez turned pro in November of 2016 and has fought just 60 rounds since.
He enjoyed a fine amateur career and fought for Honduras at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where he lost in the first round of competition. He’s a former national Golden Gloves Champion and has had no problem adapting to pro boxing. Lopez likes to overwhelm his opponents with as many punches as possible and so far has beaten the likes of Commey, Nakatani, Tatli, Diego Magdaleno, Mason Menard, William Silva, Vitor Jones, Juan Pablo Sanchez and Francisco Medel.
Prediction…
Lomachenko has an excellent pedigree as an amateur and pro while Lopez is the new kid in town with plenty of power. Lomachenko has good power to go with his great skills while Lopez will be relying on his power to take him out. Lomachenko has a good chin but it’s not perfect and that gives Lopez some hope, especially with a three-inch edge in reach. I think Lomachenko will eventually break Lopez down like he does most of his foes but it still may go the distance. Both boxers are out to prove something but as long as he’s still standing I’m expecting Lomachenko to have his hand held up at the end.
