Vasyl Lomachenko Made Me a Fan

Let us make no bones about it, Orlando Salido won last night and in my opinion, won rather decisively, 116-112. Having said that, he (Salido) failed to make weight and made no attempt to lose any of the extra baggage and then came in at a whopping 146lb for a featherweight contest. Salido is supposed to be the longstanding professional but the only professional behaviour was exhibited by the young Ukrainian. I know many fighters who would have refused to get in the ring unless Salido tried to lose some weight or they would have asked for a re-hydration clause, yet Lomachenko, the two time Olympic gold medalist did neither. What he did do was attempt something most fighters would not even dare to contemplate: win a world title from a seasoned champion in only his second pro fight. The way he went about it was amateurish but that was to be expected. He was not as active as he should have been, maybe if he had thrown more, he would have won more rounds and possibly the fight. It was obvious that when the Ukrainian was throwing, he was almost always landing, so sharp and accurate were his punches. Salido, the wiley old champion, was landing too, big, big shots and yet Lomachenko showed a great chin, barely flinching. There is also the question of the body shots and low blows, never once did Lomachenko complain or make faces at the referee, that to me was the most endearing aspect. In terms of the referee, he has a terrible night, he quite clearly saw some of the low blows yet refused to do anything about it. Why? Somewhere down the line there maybe a rematch and I for one would love to see it but first, the amateur great needs more professional rounds under his belt, there is quite clearly something great lurking beneath the surface.