Lomachenko to prove great again

VASYL LOMACHENKO is one the greatest fighters we have seen or will ever see. That is some statement given what has come before in the sport.

I said it last week in praise of Gennady Golovkin, the boxers from the former Soviet Union are bringing something new to the professional game.

There is a kind of machine-like quality that stands in marked contrast to the American tradition of great showmen.

You look at the Sugar Rays, Robinson and Leonard, Muhammad Ali, Roy Jones Jnr and Floyd Mayweather Jnr – all different yet connected by a flashy brilliance and sound technique.

Lomachenko (right) and Golovkin simply go after their opponents with clinical savagery.

Lomachenko differs from Golovkin in that he does not have the same coruscating power. But when you have the gifts Loma boasts there has to be a compromise somewhere – which is destructive power.

He can still take your head off but not with one-shot brutality.

Lomachenko comes at you with incredible speed and intensity.

He moves seamlessly from orthodox to southpaw, offers you a target – but is never there to be hit.

Then he swarms all over you on the counter in a way that is entirely his own.

Tonight at Madison Square Garden he moves up to lightweight for the first time to challenge Jorge Linares, himself a great fighter.

I don’t know how Linares can win the fight. He believes he can, which means he will come in committed, guaranteeing that sparks will fly.

Lomachenko walks about at 146, 20 pounds above the featherweight limit that he considers his optimum fighting weight.

Though Linares started out at 122, he is established at 134 these past seven years, but that won’t save him.

He’s been stopped three times and knocked over by Kevin MItchell.

No disrespect but If Mitchell can have him over, imagine what Lomachenko might do.