By Chris Williams: Vasyl Lomachenko suffered a torn shoulder labrum in his right shoulder in defeating WBA World lightweight champion Jorge Linares on May 12 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Lomachenko’s shoulder popped out of the socket briefly in round 2, but he was still able to continue to fight for the last 10 rounds. Lomachenko (11-1, 9 KOs) won the fight by a 12 round unanimous decision to become a three-division world champion.
By Chris Williams: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum must be smiling from ear to ear today at the news that last weekend’s lightweight world title fight between Vasyl Lomachenko and Jorge Linares averaged a whopping 1.439 million viewers with a peak of 1.75 million on ESPN in their fight at Madison Square Garden in New York.
By Chris Williams: For only the second time in his career, Vasyl Lomachenko looked vulnerable last Saturday night in beating Jorge Linares (44-4, 27 KOs) by a 10th round knockout to claim the WBA World lightweight title at Madison Square Garden in New York.
By Chris Williams: Bob Arum doesn’t look like he wants to wait any longer before testing Vasyl Lomachenko’s marketing appeal, as he says interested in making his next fight on August 25 against WBO lightweight champion Ray Beltran (35-7-1, 21 KOs) on pay-per-view.
By Jim Dower: Former middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik is picking WBC lightweight champion Mikey Garcia to defeat Vasyl Lomachenko if the two of them face each other in a unification fight this year.
By Chris Williams: Promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank says newly crowned WBA World lightweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko will likely face WBO lightweight champion Ray Beltran next rather than WBC champion Mikey Garcia.
By Jeff Aranow: Vasyl Lomachenko did what many expected him to do in beating Jorge Linares to rip away his WBA World lightweight title on Saturday night in front of a large crowd of 10,429 fans at Madison Square Garden in New York to become the only fighter in history of the sport to win 3 division world titles in just 12 fights.
By Chris Williams: Vasyl Lomachenko (11-1, 9 KOs) survived a 6th round knockdown to come back to stop WBA World lightweight champion Jorge Linares (44-4, 27 KOs) in the 10th round to become a three-division world champion at Madison Square Garden in New York.
By Chris Williams: WBA World lightweight champion Jorge Linares (44-3, 27 KOs) weighed in at 134.6 lbs. for his title defense on Saturday against former 2-weight world title holder Vasyl ‘Hi-Tech’ Lomachenko (10-1, 8 KOs) for their fight on Top Rank Boxing at Madison Square Garden in New York. Lomachenko weighed in at 134.6 lbs. at well.
Top Rank Boxing on ESPN returns to the big house at Madison Square Garden, the historic “Mecca of Boxing,” this Saturday, May 12 at 8 p.m. ET live on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and the ESPN App. The telecast will feature two bouts, including the most anticipated boxing main event of the year—ESPN.com’s No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter Vasiliy Lomachenko (10-1-0, 8 KO) taking on WBA Lightweight Champion Jorge Linares (44-3-0, 27 KO)—for the world title.