By Gregory Stangrit
Former four division champion Juan Manuel Marquez recently gave his take on the rise of two-time Olympic gold medal winner Vasyl Lomachenko (2-1, 1KO), who two weeks ago captured the vacant WBO featherweight championship with a twelve round majority decision over previously undefeated Gary Russell Jr. (24-1, 14KOs) at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. Lomachenko capture his first world crown, in only his third pro fight, after suffering a split decision loss to Orlando Salido earlier this year.
"[Lomachenko] was very good. Russell is very fast, but has very low accuracy [with his punches]. A lot of fast punches, but only a small amount of punches [landed]. Regarding Lomachenko, he has a lot of ability, great potential. Lomachenko worked in good combinations. He alternates his work - attacking the head and then to the body, or vice versa. Lomachenko worked much better with combinations, his punches were harder, but most importantly he was far more accurate," Marquez said.
"What will happen to his career? We'll see. Many fighters, with even 2 to 3 years of professional experience, do not fall into a situation like Lomachenko [by winning a world title this early]. But in the future, in order to maintain his reputation against tougher and stronger and more experienced opponents, [the fights] will be much tougher."
Gregory Stangrit covers boxing for Allboxing.ru
