By Mark Eisner: WBA/WBO lightweight champion Vasiliy Lomachenko (13-1, 10 KOs) looked like a transformed fighter in stopping WBA mandatory challenger Anthony Crolla (34-7-3, 13 KOs) in the fourth round on Saturday night on Top Rank Boxing on ESPN+ at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Crolla never stood a chance. Lomachenko worked him over with power shots, and left knocked him out in the fourth. The only positive for Crolla that came from the fight was he didn’t have to take punishment for long the way some of Lomachenko’s do.
This was a different Lomachenko tonight than the one boxing fans had seen in his last two matches against Jose Pedraza and Jorge Linares. Lomachenko was sitting down on his punches a lot more than he did in those fights, and he looked like he was trying to knockout Crolla from the first round instead of trying to force him to quit by frustrating him. Tonight was a completely different approach by Lomachenko in winning the fight.
Lomachenko dropped Crolla with a right hand to the head in the fourth. The shot put the 32-year-old Crolla down face first on the canvas. Referee Pat Russell then halted the fight. The official time of the stoppage was at 0:58 of round four. Crolla looked really hurt when he was down. The knockout loss was only the second of Crolla’s 13-year pro career. He was stopped in the sixth round by Derry Mathews in April 2012. Since then, no one had been able to knockout the steel-chinned Crolla until tonight.
In the third round, Lomachenko trapped Crolla up against the ropes late in the round and pummeled him with shots. The ropes kept Crolla up, but Lomachenko was given credit for a knockdown. Lomachenko thought he had scored a knockout in the round, as he celebrated. The fight was allowed to continue on a little while longer.
After the fight, #1 pound-for-pound fighter Lomachenko made it clear that he wants to fight WBC lightweight champion Mikey Garcia (39-1, 30 KOs) in a unification fight.
“I want to fight with Mikey Garcia, but we’ll see. I don’t know,” Lomachenko said after the fight. “I stay at 135 as long as it’s possible, and I want to unify all {the} titles.”
It would be a great fight if Lomachenko and Mikey were to face each other in a unification fight, but it’s up in the air whether the fight can happen. Garcia (39-1, 30 KOs) has been quiet about what his plans are for his future in boxing ever since he was beaten by IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. last month by a 12 round unanimous decision on March 16.
It’s believed that Mikey, 31, will ultimately stay at 147, because that’s where he can make the most money fighting the likes of Manny Pacquiao, Keith Thurman and Danny Garcia. There are no money fights at 140 for Mikey, and the only big fight at 135 is Lomachenko. However, Mikey might not want to drain down 10 to 15 pounds of muscle to be able to take the fight with Lomachenko. The last thing Garcia wants is to get beaten a second time in a row. Losing to Spence was bad enough in the manner he lost.
The way Lomachenko looked tonight, he’s going to have an easy time beating IBF lightweight champion Richard Commey this summer if Top Rank can put that unification fight together. If Mikey gives up his lightweight title, then Top Rank will like to match Lomachenko against whoever captures the vacant WBC belt.
Luke Campbell has the best chance of picking up that belt. If Lomachenko can face for the WBC belt, he’ll have a good shot at beating him to pick up the final title. Top Rank CEO Bob Arum said that as soon as Lomachenko unifies the division, he wants to match him against unbeaten lightweight contender Teofimo Lopez (12-0, 10 KOs) in early 2020 after the Super Bowl.
Teofimo has been doing a lot of trash talking lately, calling Lomachenko an “old lion”, and saying that he’s afraid to fight the “young lions” in the lightweight division. The comment that Teofimo, 21, made recently might be the reason why Lomachenko looked so fierce tonight inside the ring with Crolla.
The British fighter really didn’t do much trash talking during the build up to the fight. Crolla was polite with Lomachenko for the most part. The guy that has been trash talking Lomachenko is Teofimo, who is unafraid of him, and sees a fighter that stating to age, and break down with various injuries. If Top Rank can’t make that fight by the first two months of 2020, Teofimo said they can forget about the fight. He’s going to move up to 140, and start campaigning as a light welterweight.
Lopez said he would still be willing to fight Lomachenko, but it would be at a catch-weight above 135. Since Lomachenko doesn’t do catch-weight fights, it means that the two of them likely won’t ever fight each other if Top Rank can’t get the fight done before Teofimo moves up in weight. The two fighters have big egos, and both are stubborn and unwilling to agree to fighting out of the weight class that they’re in. Teofimo said he only stayed at lightweight this year for the chance of fighting for a world title. Top Rank likely won’t give Teofimo a chance to fight for a title this year. Teofimo have to wait until next year for the title shot opportunity against Lomachenko if the two of them can agree on a weight for the fight.
Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez vs. Tommy Karpency – RESULTS
Undefeated WBO super middleweight champion Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez (40-0, 26 KOs) moved up from the 168 lb division to defeat a game but limited former WBO 175 lb world title challenger Tommy Karpency (29-7-1, 18 KOs) by a fourth round retirement in a 10 round scheduled bout. The official time of the stoppage was at 3:00 of round four. Karpency was at his best in the first two rounds of the fight, landing some big shots that got Ramirez’s attention, but they weren’t hard enough to keep him from continually coming forward to land his own power shots.
After the second round, Karpency started getting beaten up by Ramirez, and his face was looking bad from the punishment he was taking. It was inevitable that the fight was going to be soon stopped after the second round. Karpency was getting hit way too much by Ramirez, and his eyes were getting swollen. It was too early in the fight for Karpency to have his eyes as swollen as they were. The body were shots from Ramirez did most of the damage. Karpency was struggling with being able to block those punches.
Karpency, 33, gave it his best effort, but he was taking too much punishment from the the taller, and busier Ramirez. The volume punching and especially the body shots from Ramirez was the undoing for Karpency. In terms of punching power, Karpency might have had the heavier hands of the two, but Ramirez was the busier guy, and he did an excellent job when he was throwing body shots. These two southpaws were throwing heavy leather in the first two rounds. It looked like Karpency stunned Ramirez with a big left to the head in the second round that caused him to back up to collect himself for several moments. Ramirez boxed carefully after taking the shot for the remainder of the second round.
“I feel more comfortable at 175 pounds than 168,” Ramirez said. “I’m looking for all the champions at 175. I want to be a pound-for-pound fighter. I struggled making 168 for a very long time. We’ll see what’s next, but my body felt great at 175. My new head trainer, Julian Chua, did an excellent job preparing me for this fight. Karpency was a tough guy.”
Ramirez can be installed right behind #1 WBO Anthony Yarde as the next mandatory for WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev. By virtue of Ramirez being the WBO super middleweight champion, he can use that title to get the #1 ranking with the WBO at 175, and get a title shot against Kovalev soon. With that said, Ramirez will need to give up his WBO super middleweight title to get the #1 ranking with the WBO at 175. Ramirez can’t have both. He needs to make a decision whether he wants to fight at light heavyweight or continue to hold onto his WBO super middleweight title.
The World Boxing Organization won’t give Ramirez a #1 ranking at 175 if he’s not going to give up the 168 lb belt. Ramirez will need to be sure whether he feels he can compete against the elite level fighters at light heavyweight before he makes the move up to 175. There’s a lot to lose for Ramirez in giving up his WBO super middleweight title.
If Ramirez stays at 168 for a little while longer, he can face WBA Super World super middleweight champion Callum Smith in a unification fight that would give him a nice payday. The fight would be risky for Ramirez though, because Smith can punch and has a lot of talent.
Smith is also an excellent fighter and a great body puncher. If Ramirez wants to trade body shots on the inside, Smith will gladly accommodate him there and likely get the better of him. Callum was there tonight to scout out Ramirez for a potential fight. That’s a fight that Smith badly wants. It would be a tough fight for Ramirez, because Smith is like a light heavyweight in size.
Arnold Barboza Jr. vs. Mike Alvarado – RESULTS
Undefeated light welterweight contender Arnold Barboza Jr. (21-0, 8 KOs) defeated 38-year-old former WBO light welterweight champion Mike Alvarado (40-5, 28 KOs) in the third round of a scheduled 10 round fight. Barboza Jr. hurt Alvarado with a big hook to the head in the third. Barboza Jr. followed up with another big hook that sent Alvarado down. The Colorado native got back up but he was badly hurt, and the referee Thomas Taylor halted the fight. The official time of the stoppage was at 0:49 of round three.
The loss for former WBO 140 lb champion Alvarado ends a six-fight winning streak that had extended to 2016. Top Rank had done a good job of matching the aging Alvarado against poor opposition the last three years, which had masked how depleted he was from the fighter that had captured and briefly held the WBO light welterweight title in 2013.
This fight was too much of a mismatch to tell whether Barboza Jr. has the kind of talent to compete with the elite at 140. He looks like good fighter, but he’s not much of a puncher. Even though Barboza Jr. knocked out a past his prime Alvarado tonight, he’s not a big puncher, and the problem is he’s in a weight class where the elite level fighters, Regis Prograis, Josh Taylor, Jose Ramirez, Ivan Baranchyk, Kiryl Relikh and Maurice Hooker, can all punch.
Janibek Alimkhanuly vs. Cristian Olivas – RESULTS
Undefeated middleweight prospect Janibek Alimkhanuly (6-0, 2 KOs) defeated journeyman Cristian Olivas (16-5, 13 KOs) by a 10 round unanimous decision. The judges’ scores were 100-90, 100-90, and 99-91. Boxing News 24 scored it 100-90. It was terribly one-sided, and not great match-making unless the idea was to make sure the 26-year-old Alimkhanuly got a sure thing win. The southpaw 2016 Olympian Alimkhanuly, who comes from Kazakhstan, boxed smartly behind his jab, controlling Olivas, and not letting him land the shots that he wanted to.
Alimkhanuly didn’t show a lot of punching power in the fight, which could eventually be a problem for him when he gets in there with the harder punchers in the division. Alimkhanuly did land some nice uppercuts in the third and sixth round that got Olivas’ attention, but they weren’t hard enough shots to put him down. There’s no shame in Alimkhanuly not being able to KO Olivas, as he’s never been knocked out before during his career. Never the less, Alimkhanuly will need to develop his power at some point if he wants to compete with the top middleweights in the division
Alexander Besputin vs. Alfredo Blanco – RESULTS
Undefeated Russian welterweight prospect Alexander Besputin (13-0, 9 KOs) defeated the unorthodox journeyman Alfredo Blanco (20-8, 11 KOs) in beating him by a 10 round unanimous decision by the scores 100-90, 100-90 and 99-91. Boxing News 24 scored it 100-90 in favor of the the 27-year-old Besputin, who is ranked at #1 with the WBA and #5 IBF. Besputin is ranked very high, but he’s not beaten anyone of note that would suggest that he deserves that high ranking.
Besputin had problems tonight with the looping punches from Blanco. Besputin was getting the better of Blanco in every round, but he was getting caught by his awkward looking shots, and not able to figure out his style in order to block some of the incoming shots.
Off of tonight’s performance against Blanco, Besputin would be out of his class if he fought WBA champions Manny Pacquiao and Keith Thurman, and IBF champ Errol Spence. Those guys look a lot better than what Besputin showed tonight.
Other results on the card:
Ruben Rodriguez MD 3 Ramel Snegur
Guido Vianello TKO 1 Lawrence Gabriel