On Saturday night May 11th at the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia former three-division world champion Vasiliy Lomachenko was dominant as he stopped George Kambosos Jr (21-3, 10 KOs) in the 11th round and won the vacant IBF world lightweight title.
Boxing is a sport where people always say anything can happen. On Saturday night anything didn’t happen, as the fight between Lomachenko and Kambosos went according to plan. Most people probably didn’t predict a Lomachenko stoppage, but the majority of fight fans knew Loma would dominate the match.
In the opening round of the battle for the vacant IBF world title, Lomachenko got off to his typical start as he showed Kambosos the slips and the foot feints. In the closing minute of the first round Lomachenko hit Kambosos with a couple of sharp combinations.
Lomachenko was able to dictate the pace for the majority of the second round with his movement and the utilization of the southpaw jab. In the closing seconds of round 2, Kambosos landed a solid punch to the body, and Loma responded by landing a flurry of shots.
Typically Lomachenko uses the early rounds in fights to download information. In the fourth round it appeared that Loma collected all the data as he consistently pressed forward and hit Kambosos with sharp punches.
In the fifth round Lomachenko knocked Kambosos off balance when he landed a solid left hand shot. Kambosos landed a nice left hand in the sixth and followed it up with a solid shot to the body. In the seventh and eighth rounds Loma continued to make him miss and make him pay as he was elusive and accurate.
At the midway point of the ninth round, Kambosos landed another shot to the body. Lomachenko responded by landing a sharp combination to the head of Kambosos. The little success that Kambosos had occurred when he landed punches to the body, while Lomachenko was a head hunter for the majority of the fight.
At the 1:42 mark of the eleventh round, a small contingency in the crowd was chanting “Loma!” For the first ten rounds of the championship fight, Lomachenko chose to press forward and be the headhunter, but in the eleventh round Loma flipped the script.
With 30 seconds left to go in the eleventh, Loma scored a knockdown when he landed a solid shot to the body of Kambosos. Kambosos was able to get up but Lomachenko landed another left to the body that sent Kambosos down to the canvas for a second time, as the referee stepped in to put a halt to the contest.
On Saturday night fight fans witnessed vintage Lomachenko as he delivered a dominant performance.
According to the compu-box numbers Lomachenko had a 105-36 advantage in power punches.
In the sport of boxing they’re levels to this game, and on Saturday night Vasiliy Lomachenko (18-3, 12 KOs) showed that he is levels above George Kambosos. While Kambosos took a step towards being labeled a one-hit wonder, Vasiliy Lomachenko is the new IBF world lightweight champion who has a unification bout in his future.
