Vasiliy Lomachenko

Vasyl Lomachenko – A Small Fight

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Lomachenko workout_140211_005a(Photo credit: Chris Farina/Top Rank) By Marc Livitz: Two representations of Olympic glory are represented across the inner arms of Vasyl Lomachenko in the form of momentous tattoos. The two time gold medalist from Ukraine holds a mind boggling 98% win tally in regard to his amateur career, which is a figure made so much more astounding when his overall record of 396 wins and one loss is considered. On Saturday night, Lomachenko will find himself at the doorstep of opportunity when he faces Orlando Salido for the WBO featherweight title at the Alamodome in San Antonio, TX.

Many across the boxing spectrum, which encompasses not only fans of the sport but the self proclaimed pugilistic intelligentsia as well have pointed with utmost disdain at the fact that Vasyl has but one professional bout to his credit. Let’s not judge with such a harsh frame of mind, as Lomachenko may be the greatest amateur fighter in history.

My Two Cents: Salido vs. Lomachenko

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Lomachenko workout_140211_003a(Photo Credit: Chris Farina) By Jay McIntyre:

The Setting:

Where? – Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas
When? – March 1st, 2014
Who? – Orlando Salido (40-12-2, 28 KO’s) vs Vasyl Lomachenko (1-0, 1 KO)
What’s at Stake? – WBO featherweight title
Why should you watch this fight? – although it is not the main attraction, it has far more question marks surrounding it – expect it to be a fascinating fight.

Arum taking a risk by matching Lomachenko against Salido

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lomachenko6By Chris Williams: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is breaking character with his matching of Vasyl Lomachenko (1-0, 1 KO’s) against WBO featherweight champion Orlando Salido (40-12-2, 28 KO’s) on March 1st at the Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas, USA.

With the way that Arum has babied the career of Mikey Garcia by not putting him in any risky fights against the likes of Guillermo Rigondeaux and Yuriorkis Gamboa despite Garcia having 34 fights on his resume, why is Arum letting Lomachenko fight for a world title in his second fight of his pro career? Is there less for Arum to lose if Lomachenko gets beaten than it would be for him to have put Mikey Garcia in with Gamboa or Rigondeaux in his 2nd pro fight? It just seems more than a little odd to me that Arum is willing to let Lomachenko take a risky fight in his second pro fight of his career when Arum didn’t do the same thing for Mikey Garcia.

Arum talks matching Mikey Garcia against Pacquiao and Lomachenko

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mikey8By Chris Williams: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is talking about having Mikey Garcia (33-0 28 KO’s) face either Manny Pacquiao or super featherweight contender Vasyl Lomachenko in the near future. Arum’s not saying when he wants to match Garcia up with Pacquiao, but one gets the sense that he could surprise us by either making the fight by the end of the year or in early 2015.

It’s probably a good idea for Arum to match Mikey up with Pacquiao sooner rather than later, because it’s possible that the Filipino star might not re-sign with Arum when his contract expires at the end of the year.

Arum could find himself in the position where he missed his window of opportunity to match Mikey up with Pacquiao if he doesn’t make the fight happen before his contract expires. Perhaps that’s why Arum is suddenly walking more and more about putting Mikey in with Pacquiao.

Orlando Salido vs. Vasyl Lomachenko on March 1st in San Antonio, Texas

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By Dan Ambrose: WBO featherweight champion Orlando Salido (40-12-2, 28 KO’s) will be making his first defense of his title against #5 WBO Vasyl Lomachenko (1-0, 1 KO’s) on March 1st at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, according to RingTV. Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is reporting that the fight is a done deal, and he’s trying to set up a rematch between former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. against Brian Vera.

Vasyl Lomachenko vs. Orlando Salido on March 1st

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lomachenko7 - CopyBy Chris Williams: Two-time Olympic gold medalist for Ukraine Vasyl Lomachenko (1-0, 1 KO’s) is saying that he’ll be challenging WBO featherweight champion Orlando Salido (40-12-2, 28 KO’s) for his title on March 1st, according to Fightnews.com. If this fight does indeed take place, Top Rank, the promoters for the 25-year-old Lomachenko, will be taking a huge gamble by putting him out there with the had hitting and much more experienced Salido.

This would be like throwing Lomachenko to the wolves, because he did not look that good in beating Jose Ramirez by a 4th round TKO last month. Lomachenko was outworked by Ramirez and hit a lot in that short fight. If it was a fighter with any kind of power and an ability to take body shots, Lomachenko would have lost the fight.

Lomachenko’s World Title Credentials to be put to the Test

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lomachenko7By Robbie Bannatyne: Society’s obsession with credential-ism is mirrored by the boxing worlds various sanctioning bodies alphabet vacant and interim titles which dubiously bestow the title of ‘world champion’ on fighters. These paper championship belts are now woven into the business fabric of boxing. They are essentially bargaining chips which are used as leverage to sell fights to the fans. Another of their principal purposes is to secure up and coming boxer’s big fights and even bigger paydays.

Vasyl Lomachenko, the Ukrainian double Olympic and World Amateur Champion certainly has the credentials which legitimize the hype that surrounded his professional debut on the undercard of the Timothy Bradley vs. Juan Manuel Marquez WBO Welterweight title fight at the Thomas and Mack Center, Las Vegas, last Saturday night.

Russell Jr. to face Salido-Lomachenko winner

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russell234By Dan Ambrose: The World Boxing Organization has made #2 WBO Gary Russell Jr. (23-0, 13 KO’s) the mandatory challenger to WBO featherweight champion Orlando Salido, and given him 180 days to fight him. If Salido hasn’t faced Russell Jr. by that time then they will likely strip him of his title. Salido has permission to take an optional title defense against Ukrainian Vasyl Lomachenko on January 25th, but the winner of that fight must face Russell Jr. by April 12th.

That’s not much time for the Salido vs. Lomachenko to go between fighting each other and having to face Russell Jr. It’s about 2 1/2 months between the Salido-Lomachenko fight and a title defense against Russell Jr. If the winner of that fight suffers a cut or some other kind of injury, it’s going to make it necessary to push the fight against Russell Jr. into the future, as long as the WBO agrees to it.

Arum wants Lomachenko vs. Salido on January 25th

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lomachenko6By Chris Williams: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is ready to put two-time Olympic Gold medalist Vasyl Lomachenko (1-0, 1 KO’s) in with newly crowned two-time WBO featherweight champion Orlando Salido (40-12-2, 28 KO’s) on January 25th at Madison Square Garden in New York. Lomachenko, 25, won his pro debut last Saturday night in stopping Jose Ramirez (25-4, 15 KO’s) in the 4th round at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Salido fought on the same card and defeated Orlando Cruz by a 7th round TKO win to capture the vacant WBO featherweight title that had previously belonged to Mikey Garcia.

Guillermo Rigondeaux vs. Vasyl Lomachenko next spring

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rigondeaux33By Chris Williams: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is in interested in matching WBA/WBO super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (12-0, 8 KO’s) against former two-time Olympic gold medalist Vasyl Lomachenko next spring if Lomachenko can win his fight tomorrow night against Jose Ramirez (25-3, 15 KO’s) and then win a world title at featherweight in early 2014, according to Dan Rafael.

There’s still a lot of ifs involved with Lomachenko because there’s no way of knowing right now how he’ll do tomorrow night and in his fight in January. As for Rigondeaux, he has a hurdle of his own he has to jump in the form of Joseph Agbeko on December 7th in Atlantic City, New Jersey.