By Vadim Pushkin
Like a lot of young fighters, two-time Olympic gold medal winner Vasyl Lomachenko idolized former undisputed heavyweight champion Mike Tyson.
Loamchenko (5-1, 3KOs), 27-years-old, was very young when he picked up a pair of gloves for the first time.
Back when he was just a child, he was under the impression that Tyson was from Ukraine. During a recent interview with a local magazine, he remembered the exact moment when his father explained to him that Tyson was actually from America.
Reflecting back, Lomachenko laughs about the moment - but at the time he was very upset.
"As a child Mike Tyson was my favorite fighter. At 6 years old, I learned that he was not a Ukrainian at all. I thought he was Ukrainian and lived somewhere in our region," Lomachenko said.
"I was worried about him, that he was sick. And so at one point the conversation turned to my father, and he said 'No, Mike lives far away in America, and he is not one of us.' I was very upset and began to cry. For some reason I thought that he was within reach somewhere nearby. He has always been my idol, and I'm looking forward to seeing him. But 20 years have passed, and now Tyson has said nice things about me ... which is very nice of course."
Lomachenko expects to defend his WBO featherweight title in April or May. His says the goal is still the same, to unify the entire division.
"I want to unify the division. Everyone is ready to scream like they want to fight, but when it comes to signing the papers they all dramatically find reasons not to go into the ring. The goal is to become the undisputed champion of the world. That's probably what I really want to do... But not everything is solved so easily," Lomachenko said.
