Lomachenko digs deep to seal place in history books
NEW YORK — Vasiliy Lomachenko had been down on the canvas and was down on the scorecards.
The tough test the Ukrainian craved, the one he said would force him to finally unleash all his skills, had finally arrived. Moments later, he ended it. Lomachenko stopped Venezuelan Jorge Linares in the 10th round of their lightweight championship fight on Saturday night, winning a title in his third weight class in just his 12th pro bout.
No man has claimed titles in three divisions faster, with Australian Jeff Fenech doing so in his 20th bout and greats such as Oscar De La Hoya (22 fights), Floyd Mayweather (34) and Manny Pacquiao (41) needing longer to achieve the feat.
Lomachenko landed a hard left to the body during a flurry of precision punches that sent Linares to his knees. Linares finally got up just as the count was reaching 10 but referee Ricky Gonzalez called an end to the fight at 2:08 of the round.
Afterward, Lomachenko credited his father and trainer Anatoly for the win.
“I prepared for the last few rounds, and my father told me, ‘You need to go to the body,’“Lomachenko said.
Linares knocked down Lomachenko in the sixth and the fight was even after nine rounds before Lomachenko (11-1, 9 KOs) put an end to his first fight at 135 pounds, adding that title to his belts at 126 and 130 pounds.
Linares (44-4, 27 KOs) hadn’t lost since 2012 and used his size advantage to do some damage, but in the end Lomachenko did more in an exciting Madison Square Garden match.
Each fighter was ahead 86-84 on a judge’s card, while Julie Lederman had it 85-all after nine rounds.
“The fight was getting interesting,” Linares said.
“It was very close, but he did surprise me with that body shot. I wanted to continue. I wanted to keep working, but the ref stopped the fight.”
The fighter widely known as Vasyl said this week he prefers to use Vasiliy, his legal name.
And now he can be called lightweight champion after picking up the WBA’s version of the belt in front of a crowd of 10,429 that chanted “Loma! Loma!” as he made his ring walk and waved blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flags for much of the night.
It was the 30-year-old’s eighth straight victory by stoppage, but this one was much tougher than a recent stretch of clinics in which his last four fights ended when his opponents’ corners wouldn’t let them take more punishment.
Lomachenko had joked he should be called “no mas Chenko” for his habit of making opponents quit, but Linares made him earn this victory.
The 32-year-old was on a 13-fight winning streak and was giving the two-time Olympic gold medalist the test he wanted, one that he said would bring out the best in what many already consider the most skilled fighter in the world.
“Thank you to Jorge Linares for giving me one more lesson in this interesting sport,” Lomachenko said.