By Dan Ambrose: Vasily Lomachenko is picking Luke Campbell to beat Ryan Garcia on Saturday night based on his talent, and the likelihood that he won’t get hit by his left hooks.
The guys that were susceptible to Ryan’s hooks were the fighters he already fought. Luke knows what he’s doing inside the ring, says Lomachenko. He won’t let Ryan hit him with his “signature punch.”
Campbell and Garcia (20-0, 17 KOs) are fighting on January 2nd on DAZN from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.
Interestingly, the odds-makers are picking Ryan to win despite Campbell have more experience in the pro and amateur ranks.
The former three-division world champion Lomachenko is well-familiar with both fighters, having beaten Campbell (20-3, 16 KOs) in his last fight in August 2019.
Lomachenko said he used to spar with Ryan Garcia, but he ran to the “trenches” and was “terrified” to get hit in the face.
What Lomachenko noticed about Ryan Garcia was how he posted on social media after they sparred, telling lies to his followers about how they had gone to “war”.
Lomachenko says the reality is, Ryan ran from him and didn’t want to get hit in the face. The spin that Ryan put on his sparring sessions with Loma didn’t make him happy.
The 2-time Olympic gold medalist Lomachenko says he videos all his sparring sessions, and if he wanted to create hype, he’d post them so that everyone could see what happened
Lomachenko: Campbell will beat Ryan Garcia
“I think Campbell is going to win,” Lomachenko said to Snowqueenla in picking Luke to defeat Ryan Garcia. “Campbell just recovered from COVID.
“It really just depends on how badly the Corona affected him. No one really knows. Ultimately, it’s a respiratory virus that affects the lungs.
“It affects one’s stamina and physical ability. So it really depends on whether it would have any lasting effects. If he’s healthy, fully recovered, and comes back 100%, I think he will beat Garcia.
“Yes, he is fast and sharp,” Lomachenko said about Ryan Garcia. “I won’t deny that. No, no, no, of course, not,” Loma said when asked if Ryan has improved since he sparred with him in the past.
“His speed, his signature punch is his left hook,” Loma said about Ryan Garcia’s primary weapon. “He is very fast with that only works with the type of opponents he has already fought.
“You’ll be able to see it with other opponents. I doubt he’ll be able to land his left hook on Luke because that guy knows what he’s doing in the ring,” said Lomachenko in dismissing Ryan’s ability to hit Campbell with his left hook.
Loma would know who the better fighter is because he’s been in there with both guys. Campbell, 33, gave Lomachenko a really hard fight last year, and he landed a lot of big shots.
It was a competitive match throughout, but in the end, Loma’s skills were too much for Luke.
Lomachenko says Ryan Garcia was “terrified” during sparring sessions
“I personally know [Ryan] Garcia. He used to come to my camp. I have sparred him,” Lomachenko said. “He goes around and tells lies. After the sparring session, he posted on his Twitter that we went to war.
“What he said had nothing to do with reality. When he said that, he must have forgotten that I record all my sparring sessions.
“I still have the recordings. If I was all about hype, I’d post it. That way, people would see what type of war we actually had.
“Of course, he considered it a war. What actually happened was, he kept retreating to the trenches and was terrified to show his face,” said Lomachenko.
It sounds bad what Lomachenko says about Ryan Garcia running to the trenches each time he attacked him.
That’s exactly how Ryan’s fight with Carlos Morales played out in 2018. Morales put constant pressure on Ryan and had him running to the ropes and holding.
Ryan did a lot of clinching in that fight, and he was getting tagged frequently due to his straight-up style of fighting.
Gervonta Davis is on Lomachenko’s hitlist
“It’s hard for me to say,” Lomachenko said when asked who he believes is the best fighters at 135. “I never fought Haney or Davis.
“Personally, I prefer Davis, I like him more. He is more aggressive. Plus, he’s a southpaw. I like fighting southpaws.
“If we are talking about who I would want to fight next, if I had the opportunity, I’d fight him [Tank Davis]. ‘Okay, let’s go.’ I would choose him. Why not? I doubt they would make it happen right away.
“And I just don’t know. I only saw the highlight when Davis KO’d him,” Lomachenko said of Tank’s knockout win over Leo Santa Cruz. “But again, Santa Cruz is a 126-pounder.
“He always fought at 126, and here at 135. I don’t think it’s quite his weight class,” Lomachenko said of Santa Cruz. “He physically wasn’t prepared for it. But then again, Davis is a beast.
“Maybe it was a mistake, but we just don’t know Davis was prepared for the fight,” Loma said about Santa Cruz throwing three straight right hands before getting clipped by a left uppercut from Davis.
“Maybe it was his strategy for this fight. I didn’t analyze Santa Cruz’s previous fights.
“Maybe he made the same mistakes in previous fights, and Gervonta noticed that and was ready for it.
“He might have also seen that’s a mistake Leo makes it critical situations when he was backed to the corner that he’ll throw the same exact punches.
“Davis knew how to force Santa Cruz to the ropes and then finish him,” said Lomachenko.
It would be great if Mayweather Promotions would let Davis fight Lomachenko, but they probably let him right now. They’re likely to wait until Lomachenko ages more before they let Tank face him.
Lomachenko thinks Teofimo would lose to Jose Ramirez
“Who are you referring to? Jose Ramirez? Those guys will eat him alive,” Lomachenko said to SNOWQUEENLA about Teofimo Lopez if he moves up to 140. “He won’t pass through the 140-pound champions.
“He won’t at least for right now. In the next year at least, that’s for sure. That’s how I see it. I double he would bring anything to the table against Ramirez. I don’t think he would want to fight Ramirez because he understands that at 135, he has better opportunities.
“I’m not sure why he would want to move up. Here at 135, there are so many more names. Gervonta Davis, Haney, and Campbell. Campbell is going to fight Garcia. There are so many more names for him to fight, and get paid well too.
“No, I don’t think he could KO [Teofimo] Lopez,” Lomachenko said about Tank Davis. “I’m not sure how that fight would ultimately play out. I hadn’t given it any thoughts.
“But it would certainly be an interesting fight, don’t you think? I would also be interested in fighting Davis, Haney, and [Ryan] Garcia,” said Lomachenko.
Jose Ramirez would be a bad style match-up for Teofimo Lopez, seeing that he throws so many punches and he puts constant pressure on his opponents.
When Lomachenko put pressure on Teofimo in the second half of their fight last October, he was wilting. The fight showed that Teofimo can’t handle being pressured