By Keith Idec
LAS VEGAS – Nicholas Walters’ last opponent is as interested as anyone in the former featherweight champion’s fight against Vasyl Lomachenko.
Jason Sosa, who won the WBA world super featherweight title in the fight after his majority draw with Walters 11 months ago, picked Lomachenko to win Saturday night. Sosa still considers Walters a very live underdog in a 130-pound championship fight Lomachenko was listed as a 9-1 favorite to win Friday at The Cosmopolitan sports book.
“It’s whoever comes to fight and puts on a better fight that day,” Sosa told BoxingScene.com on Friday. “Lomachenko is good, but how good is he when they keep throwing him in with [lesser] fighters, guys that are not on his level? They know what they’re doing with Lomachenko. And then you have Nicholas Walters, who’s strong and has been in the ring with some guys.”
Sosa (20-1-4, 15 KOs) is looking forward to seeing how Lomachenko takes Walters’ power, something Sosa did well when the Camden, New Jersey, native met Jamaica’s Walters (26-0-1, 21 KOs) on December 19 in Verona, New York.
“The reason why it’s interesting is because of the Nonito Donaire fight,” Sosa said, referring to Walters’ career-changing, sixth-round stoppage of Donaire two years ago. “That’s what makes it interesting. But who knows?
“But if you’re asking who I think would win, I probably would have to go with Lomachenko. Just because at the end of two rounds with Nicholas Walters I ended up adapting and boxing, and I’m not a boxer. I’m an aggressive fighter, but I started picking Nicholas apart. Lomachenko is more crafty and he’s a boxer type.”
Judge Tom Schreck scored the 10-round Sosa-Walters bout 96-94 for Walters. Judges Don Ackerman and Wynn Kintz scored it even (95-95), which made it a majority draw.
If Lomachenko-Walters goes to the scorecards, Sosa figures Ukraine’s Lomachenko (6-1, 4 KOs) will win decisively. But again, Sosa sees Walters’ power as a potential equalizer in this HBO “World Championship Boxing” main event at The Chelsea inside The Cosmopolitan (10:35 p.m. ET).
“I think it’s a 50-50 fight,” Sosa said. “But if you ask my trainer [Raul Rivas], he’ll say Lomachenko will win. But I feel like it’s a 50-50 fight. That goes for any fight. They [underestimated] me, but that’s just boxing. Anything can happen.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
