By Allan Fox: WBO World super featherweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko (7-1, 5 KOs) made weight on Friday in coming in at 129.6 pounds for his title defense against former WBA World champion Jason Sosa (20-1-4, 15 KOs) on Saturday night on April 8 at the MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland. The Lomachenko-Sosa fight card will be televised on HBO World Championship Boxing at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT. Sosa came in over the limit at 130.2 lbs.
This is the 29-year-old Lomachenko’s second defense of his World Boxing Organization 130lb. title that he won last June in stopping Roman “Rocky” Martinez in the 5th round. Lomachenko defeated former WBA featherweight champion Nicholas Walters by a 7th round stoppage last November in his first defense of the WBO 130lb title. Walters was supposed to have been a tough test for Lomachenko, but the fight turned out to be a total mismatch for the 2-time Olympic Ukrainian gold medalist.
This could be the toughest fight for Lomachenko since his loss to Orlando Salido in 2014. Sosa is a big puncher with a great chin, and all out brawling fighting style. Sosa doesn’t have a reverse gear in his game. If Lomachenko is going to beat Sosa on Saturday, he might have to settle for winning a grueling 12 round decision.
Lomachenko needs a great performance on Saturday night to help win over the U.S boxing fans. It’s no good for Lomachenko if his performance is overshadowed by the other fighters on the card. The card is loaded with talented fighters with Ukrainian Olympians Oleksandr Usyk and Oleksandr Gvozdyk on the card. Lomachenko has the punching power and the ring IQ to make this an easy fight. It would be better for Lomachenko to bring some drama to the fight by staying in the pocket against Sosa rather than moving around like he did against Nicholas Walters and Gary Russell Jr.
Other weights on the card:
Undefeated 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Oleksandr Gvozdyk (12-0, 10 KOs) weighed in at 174.2 pounds for his fight against former Cuban amateur standout Yuniesky Gonzalez (18-2, 14 KOs). Gonzalez weighed in at 174.8 lbs. This is a very good fight. Gonzalez, 31, has a lot of punching power, and his real loss was to Vyachelsav Shabranskyy, who beat him by a 10 round split decision. Gonzalez did well enough in that fight to arguably deserve a draw. In fact, one judge scored it a 10 round draw. However, he was overruled by the other 2 judges, who gave the win to Shabranskyy by the scores 98-92, 97-93. Gonzalez’s other loss was to Jean Pascal in losing a 10 round unanimous decision in 2015. Boxing News 24 scored that fight to Gonzalez by a 96-94 score. Gonzalez was facing a much better known fighter in Pascal, so he found out the hard way how difficult it can be to defeat an A-side fighter.
#4 WBC Gvozdyk, 29, needs a victory over Gonzalez to moving forward towards a future title shot against WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson. Gvozdyk is taking the hard way to try and win a world title, because Stevenson is very selective in the challengers he faces. He’s not going to just give Gvozdyk a title shot. It literally could take years for Gvozdyk to get a crack at Stevenson, even if he wins every fight. It might take 2-3 years. Gvozdyk might want to move in another direction if he wants a title shot by the time he’s 32.
Gvozdyk has excellent punching power and boxing skills. He looked good in his recent fights in defeating Isaac Chilemba, Tommy Karpency, and Nadjib Mohammedi. Gvozdyk will need to start quicker against Gonzalez than what we’ve been seeing of him lately. Gvozdyk is too patient and too methodical in his fights, which makes them harder than they need to be. Against a big puncher like Gonzalez, Gvozdyk will need to be ready to trade power shots from the very start of the fight if he doesn’t want to wind up taking a lot of punishment. Gonzalez has a chopping right hand that he likes to throw. If Gvozdyk gets hit with that punch too many times, he could be finished for the night. Gvozdyk’s skills may not help him if he starts slowly against Gonzalez, because the Cuban fighter will be looking to take his head off from the very start.
WBO cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk (11-0, 10 KOs) weighed in at 199.4 lbs. for his title defense against #9 WBO Michael Hunter (12-0, 8 KOs). Hunter weighed in at 198 lbs.
Usyk knocked out Thabiso Mchunu in the 9th round in his last fight in December. That was a so—so performance by Usyk. He got the win, but he was booed by the boxing fans because he was moving too much and not going after Mchunu. Usyk finally changed his fighting style in the 6th in knocking Mchunu down. However, Usyk boxed Mchunu in rounds 7 and 8, and it was boring to watch at times. In the 9th, Usyk went back to slugging and scored a knockout.
Usyk wants to become a big star and unify the cruiserweight division before moving up to heavyweight. The 6’3” Usyk needs to be much more aggressive against Hunter than what we’ve been seeing from him since he turned pro. Usyk is still using the same amateur style that he had when he captured a gold medal in the 2012 Olympics for Ukraine. Usyk has excellent punching, and the ability to turn up the heat when he needs to. I don’t think Usyk’s current style is conducive for him becoming a big name in the U.S the way we’ve seen with middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin.
If Usyk can change the way he fights to become more of a puncher, then it’s quite possible for hm to become a star someday if he can keep knocking guys out. Usyk wasn’t able to knockout Krzysztof Glowacki in their fight in September last year. Usyk played it safe by moving around the ring, jabbing and throwing a lot of pot shots. That would have been a good opportunity for Usyk to display his power to show the boxing world that he could knockout a very good fighter. Unfortunately, Usyk never even tried to KO Glowacki. He was content with just winning the fight.
Hunter, 28, is going to need to go after Usyk if he wants to win this fight. If the southpaw Usyk is able to hit and move, he’ll do that all night and win a wide decision. Hunter has to pressure Usyk and stay close to him all night long, because he’s hard to beat when he’s bouncing around on the outside. Hunter has good hand speed and punching power. He can make it very hard for Usyk if he fights a smart fight. Hunter looked very good in his recent fights against Isiah Thomas, Phil Williams and Jason Douglas. Hunter showed both punching power and boxing ability in those fights. However, those fighters don’t have the same kind of talent that Usyk possesses.
It’s going to be a lot harder for Hunter to dominate Usyk like he’s done with the guys he’s faced recently. This fight is one of those ones that you really can’t tell who is going to win. Hunter is an Olympian too, and he’s got the kind of talent that can minimize the things that Usyk is doing inside the ring.
In other weights on the card, super middleweight contender Jesse Reed (21-0, 17 KOs) weighed in at 168 pounds for his 10 round fight against Allan Campa (16-2, 11 KOs). Campa weighed in at 165.6 lbs.
