By Chris Williams: Nonito Donaire and Robert Guerrero are 2 more boxers that are picking Mikey Garcia to defeat Vasyl Lomachenko when/if they fight each other next year. The Garcia-Lomachenko fight still hasn’t been made, but Lomachenko’s promoter Bob Arum spoke about him moving up to lightweight in 2018 and making easy work of Mikey.
Arum sees Mikey as no competition to Lomachenko. That’s not how Donaire and Guerrero see it. They both view the bigger, stronger and faster Mikey as having too many advantages over Lomachenko, who is little more than a slick volume puncher.
“It is what it is He fought a little guy,” said Guerrero to Fighthype in commenting on Lomachenko’s recent win over the smaller Rigondeaux. ”I think Mikey out-boxes him. He’s the bigger fighter. I think he beats him,” said Guerrero.
It’s easy to agree with the views of Guerrero. Mikey is the taller, faster and the much more powerful fighter. Lomachenko is a guy that wins his fights at super featherweight by throwing a lot of punches to wear down his opponents to get them to quit. When Lomachenko does move up to lightweight, his size advantage that he’s been sporting will disappear.
Unless Lomachenko is able to add more size to his short 5’6” frame, he’s going to have problems with the bigger fighters in the 135 lb. division like Mikey, Robert Easter Jr., Felix Verdejo and Terry Flanagan. It would be a shame for Lomachenko’s career to head south once he moves up to lightweight, but that’s something he needs to do. There’s no future for Lomachenko staying at super featherweight.
“I saw that coming. Lomachenko’s an incredible fighter,” said Donaire to Fighthype about Lomachenko’s win over Rigondeaux. “That’s how fighting is about. Lomachenko is very smart. It’s called frustration. He frustrates people. He does all this matrix stuff. Mikey’s an incredible fighter. Timing can beat speed. Once he figures you out, it’s a different story. That’s something Mikey can have against someone with volume. If he lands that punch [it’s lights out for Lomachenko]. He does have 1-punch knockout power,” said Donaire in remarking on Mikey’s devastating power.
Lomachenko needs to throw his weak, high volume shots for him to win at lightweight. The problem is that when you’re dealing with a guy that hits like a truck like Mikey, he’s all wrong for a weak volume puncher like Lomachenko. If Arum has his eyes open, he’ll just keep name dropping Mikey’s name to increase the popularity of Lomachenko the easy way without actually making that fight. If Arum puts Lomachenko in with Mikey, I see it ending badly for the 2-time Olympic gold medalist from Ukraine. It could be another Tommy Hearns vs. Pipino Cuevas type ending.