It's my belief that there's
nothing a fighter hates more than being embarrassed in the ring. Many would
rather go out on their shield and take a stoppage loss than get toyed with under the
bright lights. The ultimate compliment that can be paid to a fighter is not
that he won, but that he broke a fighter's spirit. That's the highest level of
the sport. And that's what Vasiliy Lomachenko did at his best.
Perhaps no fight illustrated
Lomachenko's greatness in this regard better than his victory over pound-for-pound great Guillermo Rigondeaux. Rigo was the master technician of
his day. Featuring hypnotic movement, feints a-plenty and a blistering straight
left hand, no one had been able to solve the Sphinx-like puzzle that Rigo presented, at least not until Lomachenko shared the ring with him.
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| Lomachenko draped in hardware Photo courtesy of Mikey Williams/Top Rank |
In that fight, the master dancer
got bested by an even better dancer. Wherever Rigo moved, Loma moved with him.
But better yet, he would greet Rigo with thudding punches and blinding hand
speed. Rigondeaux, a proud fighter, quickly understood what he was up against
and by the sixth round he could no longer abide. He quit on his stool; the
embarrassment was too much for him to handle.
But that fight was not the only
example of Lomachenko breaking an opponent's will. Against undefeated knockout
artist Nicholas Walters, Lomachenko dazzled with the type of technical display
rarely seen at the highest levels of the sport. Walters could barely lay a
glove on Lomachenko and Loma's constant pressure and mastery of angles was too
much for Walters. Similarly, he retired in his corner.
***
Vasiliy Lomachnko was part of a
Ukrainian national team that dominated amateur boxing. Arriving on the
scene half-a-generation after the Klitschko brothers, Loma, Usyk, Gvozdyk and
more brought new elements to the table. Instead of prevailing with thunderous
power and punch-counting jabs, this crew incorporated dazzling footwork. They
understood the beauty of attacking from angles, of turning opponents, and
dominating psychologically as much as physically. The ring was their friend,
and they would use every inch of it to gain an advantage.
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| Loma landing a body shot on Jorge Linares Photo courtesy of Mikey Williams/Top Rank |
Lomachenko's development was even farther afield from the typical great amateur. There was a period where Lomachenko's father, Anatoly, temporarily paused Lomachenko's boxing training and put him in classical dance. When Lomachenko returned to the sport, he possessed something far more than just solid boxing footwork; he expanded the creative possibilities of how to attack an opponent.
Olympic gold medals ensued and he
became the prized international prospect from Top Rank. Lomachenko was so
advanced that he fought for a title in his second pro fight (which was a close
loss to Orlando Salido) and won a world championship in his third bout, against
the speedster Gary Russell Jr., a fighter who would go on to become a long-term
champ at featherweight.
And that was when the Lomachenko mythology really took off. Featuring a purported amateur record of 397-1 and now a titlist in just three fights, there was
a sense that Loma possessed a collection of skills that had never been seen
before.
***
Loma announced his retirement
last week, which came as a shock to few. Now 37 and with multiple surgeries, as
well as a couple of heartbreaking losses, the will to fight on was no longer
there. He retired with a record of 18-3, and 14-3 in title fights.
Now 14-3 is nothing to sniff at in championship bouts. It's excellent. But
among the best of his contemporaries, that record isn't as strong as the Usyks,
the Inoues, the Crawfords and the Canelos.
Two of Loma's losses could be
attributed to a combination of naivete and arrogance, both from himself and his
father, who trained him. The Salido fight was full of caveats. Salido had blown
weight and it had been seen as a deliberate act instead of guy who really tried
to get down to the last ounce. I believe that Salido's strategy by winning with physicality, by being the bully, was obvious from the opening round. He was using his weight, crafty inside skills, grappling, and whatever low blows were allowed to take it to
the professional novice. It was Loma's (and his father's) real introduction to
professional boxing. You might be better technically, Loma, but I'm going to ravage
your body by any means necessary.
To be fair, it was an atrociously
refereed fight by Laurence Cole, who should have taken points from Salido
for incessant low blows. But Loma and his father didn't handle it appropriately. Loma didn't return fire with low blows; he thought that the
fight was some type of "sporting" contest. He and his father didn't
work the ref properly. It took Loma until the second half of the fight to
power through Salido's tactics and take it to him. Yes, he dominated much of
the second half of the fight, and he ultimately made Salido's head look like a
popping Pez dispenser.
However, the damage was done. He
lost on two of the three cards, and the judges were correct in awarding Salido
the decision. It took too long for Loma to make adjustments. He and his team
were not prepared for what Salido brought to the table and suffered a defeat.
With more seasoning, both from the fighter and trainer, a win could definitely
have been achieved the night.
Flashing forward several years, Lomachenko faced the unpredictable but talented Teofimo Lopez. The first seven rounds of the fight featured a shockingly low punch output level from Lomachenko. In the first six rounds, Loma didn't even throw 15 punches in a single round. Now absent a knockdown or some ferocious power punching, no fighter is going to win rounds with that type of inactivity.
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| Teofimo Lopez landing a right uppercut on Loma Photo courtesy of Mikey Williams/Top Rank |
Lopez had figured out a lot regarding how to neutralize Lomachenko. He understood that Loma almost always went to an opponent's left side to start an attack. And as Loma turned, Lopez turned, meeting him with solid left hooks to the body and head. It was the first time that I had ever seen Loma spooked in the ring.
In time, Loma started to let his
hands go and easily won rounds eight through eleven. In the 12th, Lopez bit
down and landed pulverizing uppercuts as Loma rushed into the pocket. And I had
never seen Loma hit like that before.
Loma ultimately lost by a
unanimous decision, and he deserved to lose, but what followed bordered on
delusion. He wouldn't concede the loss after the fight and at worst believed
that it should have been a draw. But this wasn't a hard fight to score. And I
should also point out that Lopez was credited with landing 50 punches in the
12th round.
After the fight, Loma had
shoulder surgery, and perhaps his injuries played a role in the loss, but it still didn't
explain why he was able to let his hands go with abandon in the second half of
the fight and not the first if he was so injured. But months later he was asked
about the fight again, and he didn't change his stance. Even when he was doing
virtually nothing in a round, he still thought that he deserved to
win.
***
I come down the middle on
Lomachenko. At his best he was a wonderful talent. He injected style and
excitement into the sport. Lomachenko had terrific balance, coordination,
timing, and accuracy. His footwork has already been copied by many.
You can see his influence particularly on pound-for-pound level talent Jesse
"Bam" Rodriguez.
But the record lacks a lot of top
names. Yes, if he would have gotten Mikey Garcia and Gervonta Davis (when both
were champ at 130), his resume would look a lot better, and I would have
favored him to win both. But there were losses, and a lot of wins against
contender-types who weren't necessarily at his level.
He was great at going forward,
but less threatening when on his back foot. Also, there aren't too many
complete twelve-round performances. He was terrific in spurts – half a fight
here, eight rounds there. He fought in such an up-tempo style that he had problems
sustaining it against top competition for 12 rounds.
We were deprived of
some of Loma's peak since he turned pro at the relatively late age of 26. If he
could win a pro title in his third bout, it's certainly easy to see that he
could have gotten a belt much earlier if he had turned pro at 20 or 21.
Much of Loma is left to
conjecture. We have two-thirds of a career (including a decline where he was
still an excellent fighter) and a lot of attribution for what he possibly could
have done. He retired with two Olympic gold medals, one of the best amateur
careers on record (whatever the actually tally is) and world titles in three
weight classes.
Was he a perfect fighter? No. It
took him too long to make adjustments in the ring. He had a disrespect for his
opponents and an inflated sense of himself that cost him during multiple
fights. He lost pivotal 12th rounds in two fights that he needed, against Lopez
and Devin Haney. He didn't have the same awareness of scoring that his teammate
and fellow champ Oleksandr Usyk has. Loma believed that he was brilliant and
that was enough. Usyk understands that the three judges need to be given clear
evidence that he's the better fighter. It's Ring IQ that ultimately
separates Usyk from Lomachenko.
Lomachenko will always be remembered as possessing supreme athletic and technical skills. But he is also a reminder that skills don't always pay the bills. Neither Salido nor Lopez was the skilled athlete that Loma was, but they both had their hands raised after fighting him. Loma had evenings of absolute brilliance, where he was untouchable, but when he was touchable, it was much more a roll of the dice. He used psychology to help beat opponents, but those skills also conspired to beat himself. Greatness cannot just be in the mind; it must be shown in the ring, round after round.
Loma believed that he was an anointed one, the elite talent of his era. Many of his fans believed similarly. The judges didn't always concur.
