By Rick Reeno
Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas - Vasyl Lomachenko (5-1, 3KOs) retained the WBO featherweight championship with a tenth round knockout of severely overmatched Romulo Koasicha (25-4, 15KOs) of Mexico.
Lomachenko went to work from bell one, using a stuff jab and landing fast, accurate punches to the head and body of Koasicha.
Lomachenko picked up the pace with his power shots in the second. He was calculated, using angles to avoid counters and had Koasicha's face bruising up from the incoming punishment.
The heat was turned up in the third, with Lomachenko unloading his rapid fire when he pressed Koasicha against the ropes. Hard shots were pasting the tough Mexican to the head and body.
Lomachenko's defense was on display. He was avoiding just about everything coming back from Koasicha, who had no answers on how to slow down the two-time Olympic gold medal winner.
Koasicha became a little more aggressive in the sixth round and tried his best to connect with anything of note. But Lomachenko's defense was just too good and his counters were too accurate.
The fight became a sparring session more than fight by the ninth round. Lomachenko was dominating the action from start to finish. He never really put himself out there to press for a knockout, being a little too cautious at times and unloading when the openings were there.
In the tenth round, a series of digging hooks to the body sent Koasicha down for the full count of ten.
