Vasyl Lomachenko – An Amateur Star with a Big Future as a Pro
By Glenn Desmond
Heralded as the greatest pound for pound fighter still competing in the amateur ranks, Vasyl Lomachenko of Bilhorod-Dnistroyskyi Ukraine, intends to put a mark on the professional ranks in what he sees as the only logical progression in his already title laden career. The career of the two time Olympic and world champion, is a thing of legend having fought many of his fights in obscure locations all over the world emerging with an absolutely mind boggling 396-1 record. His only defeat came at the hands of Russia’s Ibert Selimov in the finals of the 2007 amateurs in Chicago.
It is not ever an assurance that an Olympic gold medal winner will go on to become a world title contender, but if there was a fledgling debut to watch last Saturday, it was that of this incredible featherweight – what a debut!
In his first fight in the pro ranks Saturday he was what some people thought been thrown to the wolves a little bit against previously ranked world number 7 Jose Ramirez. It is hard to recall a time where a fighter has been put in with such a credible opponent on a professional debut, but Lomachenko proved all the hype was for real dominating his opponent over 4 rounds and eventually stopping him with a painful body shot after previously dropping the tough Mexican in the very first round.
Top Rank are sure that have a great fighter on their hands with CEO Bob Arum saying that even though fighters like Mayweather Jr and De La Hoya have emerged as great champions from solid amateur careers, he has not seen a fighter of this calibre come through the amateur ranks since Sugar Ray Leonard. Incredibly there is now talk that Lomachenko could fight for a world title in only his second fight next up potentially against Orlando Salido who beat Orlando Cruz on the same card Saturday night.
It will be interesting to see how Lomachenko’s career unfolds and with Top Rank putting so much swell behind him, this early on, it might not be that long of a wait before he is climbing the ranks. One cannot help noticing that the Ukrainian smiles like he knows something that everybody else does not, and is already oozing confidence at the start of his professional journey.
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