By Mark Eisner: Vasily Lomachenko (16-2, 11 KOs) took former IBF lightweight champion Richard Commey (30-4, 27 KOs) to school in knocking him down in the seventh round and cruising to a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision win on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York.
(Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank via Getty Images)
The scores were 119-109, 117-110, and 119-108. Boxing News 24 scored it for Lomachenko 119-109.
After knocking Commey, 24, down hard in the seventh round, Lomachenko hit him at will with shots and motioned for his corner to throw in the towel to save their fighter.
When they chose not to, Lomachenko appeared to carry Commey for the remainder of the fight, treating the contest as a light spar.
The former three-division world champion Lomachenko could have finished the tired Commey in any of the remaining five rounds but chose not to.
During the fight week, Lomachenko laughed with Commey during their face-offs, and you could tell that he liked his opponent. Perhaps for that reason, Lomachenko didn’t go all out for the knockout once he had Commey hurt in the seventh.
Lomachenko vs. Commey undercard action:
- In the chief support bout on tonight’s Lomachenko vs. Commey card, heavyweight prospect Jared Anderson (11-0, 11 KOs) kept his perfect knockout streak alive with a surprisingly easy second round knockout victory over Oleksandr Teslenko (17-2, 13 KOs) in a fight that was scheduled for eight rounds. The 22-year-old Anderson nailed Teslenko with a hard left-right to the head to put him down on the canvas. The battle was then halted at 1:33 of the round. It’s time for ‘Big Baby’ Anderson to be matched against better opposition because beating everyone too easily. Suppose the rumors are valid about the 6’4″ Anderson beating up WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury in sparring for his trilogy fight with Deontay Wilder. In that case, that’s a sign that Jared needs to be fighting contenders instead of sublevel fodder that he’s been fighting since turning professional in 2019.
- Lightweight prospect Keyshawn Davis (4-0, 3 KOs) destroyed Jose Zaragoza (8-4-1, 2 KOs) by a second round knockout. Zaragoza was knocked down twice in the second round before the fight was halted after he’d been flattened by a vicious shot to the midsection by the 22-year-old 2020 Olympic silver medalist Keyshawn.
- In a less than stellar performance, middleweight prospect Nico Ali Walsh (3-0, 2 KOs) defeated Reyes Sanchez (6-1, 2 KOs0 by a four round majority decision. Sanchez landed many shots and looked like he’d done enough to rate a draw. The judges scored 38-38, 40-36, and 39-37. Boxing News 24 scored it 38-38. There are no words to describe how bad the 40-36 score was. Nico, 21, is the grandson of boxing great Muhammad Ali. However, he looks nothing like his famous grandfather and, not surprisingly, has shown none of his talents. On the positive side, Nico has good right-hand power, but it’s not enough to cover all the flaws he has in his game.
- Undefeated junior middleweight prospect Xander Zayas (12-0, 9 KOs) destroyed Italy’s Alessio Mastronunzio (9-2, 3 KOs) by a first round knockout. The 19-year-old native of Puerto Rico Zayas knocked Mastronunzio down. After he got back up, Zayas teed off on the 26-year-old until the referee stepped in the halt the carnage. The time of the stoppage was at 2:52 of the first round. It’s fair to say that it’s time for Top Rank to step Zayas up against better opposition because he’s beating these guys too quickly for him to get anything from these contests.
- Unbeaten welterweight Pablo Valdez (6-0, 5 KOs) defeated Julio Cesar Sanchez (11-4, 6 KOs) by a fourth round knockout. Valdez knocked Sanchez down in the fourth. The time of the stoppage was 2:40 of the fourth.
- 2016 Irish Olympian Joe Ward (6-1, 3 KOs) picked up his sixth consecutive victory in defeating Britton Norwood (10-4-1, 7 KOs) by a first round knockout in light heavyweight action in a scheduled six round bout. Referee Charlie Fitch stopped the fight at 1:35 of the first. Ward, 28, was knocked out in the second round in his pro debut in October 2019 by Martin Delgado. To his credit, Ward has since avenged his loss by beating Delgado by a six round unanimous decision.
- Welterweight prospect Kelvin Davis (3-0, 2 KOs) destroyed the hapless Ryan Schwartzberg (1-4-1, 1 KOs) by a second round knockout. Schwartzberg was knocked down in the second. At the conclusion of the round, the contest was halted.
- Undefeated light welterweight John Bauza (16-0, 7 KOs) defeated Michael Williams Jr. (19-1, 12 KOs) by a fourth round stoppage. Bauza knocked Williams Jr. down six times in the fight, with three coming in the fourth and one knockdown in each of the first three rounds.
- Featherweight prospect James Wilkins (10-2, 6 KOs) defeated Juan Tapia (10-4, 3 KOs) by a close eight round unanimous decision. The judges scored it 77-75, 77-74, and 76-74. Tapia hit the deck in the 4th.
Preview
“It’s going to be a good one because Commey, he’s still dangerous. The guy can hit,” said former WBO super featherweight champion Jamel Herring to Boxing Social in giving Commey a shot against Lomachenko tonight.
Commey will have the size advantage in this fight, and that could be enough for him to get the victory if he can land his shots.
Since moving up to 135 in 2018, Lomachenko has had four grueling fights against Jose Pedraza, Teofimo Lopez, Luke Campbell, and Jorge Linares.
The only easy fights Lomachenko has had at 135 were his wins over Anthony Crolla and Masayoshi Nakatani, and those guys weren’t at his level. Loma says he wants to stay at 135 to try and become the undisputed champion, but we’ll see if he can accomplish that goal.
What Lomachenko has going for him now is Teofimo moving up in weight to 140 because he won’t need to worry about him. Teofimo was a boiled-down 147-pounder who could make weight at 135 due to his youth.
Now that Teofimo’s body has finally given out on him, he’s moving up to 140, and that’s one less headache for Lomachenko.
“Lomachenko is not known for being a natural lightweight, but as we’ve seen lately, he’s kind of grown into the weight. He’s kind of put on a little more size. His ring IQ is unbelievable. The whole card is a really good solid card.
“I mean, I’d like to see it,” Herring said when told that Top Rank promoter Bob Arum would like to match Lomachenko against WBO super featherweight champion Shakur Stevenson if Loma is successful tonight against Herring.
“I’ve been in there with Shakur. The guy is craftier than anybody I know. I train really hard for that fight, but he just kept upping the pace and level. I believe he can hang with guys like Lomachenko that they put in front of him. So, I wouldn’t mind seeing it,” said Herring.
Vasily Lomachenko is in a must-win fight tonight against powerful Richard Commey in a match-up that could see the winner challenger for a world title in early 2022. The fight card action begins at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT on ESPN.
‘Hi-Tech’ Lomachenko (15-2, 11 KOs) is the favorite to win tonight, but with Commey’s one-punch power to upset the odds when the two meet at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Boxing News 24 will be giving LIVE results below of tonight’s Lomachenko vs. Commey card action from MSG: