Vasyl Lomachenko 3 fights and 1 WBO featherweight belt!

Who cares 3 fights, 9 fights, 100 fights...this kid is the goods, and will probably beat everyone put in front of him at 126. I thought this kids greatness would be the one thing this forum would agree on. He fought a good fighter for a pro debut. He fought a tough veteran, with the wrong style, who was overweight, and Lomachenko still hung in there. Then he fights a blue chip prospect people have been waiting for, and said this was to be his coming out party, gets embarrassed landing 10-15% of his punches? It's been 3 fights. Golovkin has had 30

If you fight for WSB you still retain your amateur status and can fight in the Olympics they even said on the telecast that those fights weren't going to be counted against him, but it still appears to be a sketchy area. They mention the asterisk (*) part.

I agree that there should be a semi pro league but one in which you can only face amateurs and still be considered an amateur. Let's be honest The WSB was not set up to help fighters transition, it's purely a money scheme for AIBAAnd that money is what makes them professionals, the no head gear and professional rules (more than 3minutes round is just a bonus, in reality all good prospects face tomatoes can when they start in the pro ranks, in the wsb they facing the best every country has to offer, he got paid he is a professional fighter...

I agree that there should be a semi pro league but one in which you can only face amateurs and still be considered an amateur. Let's be honest The WSB was not set up to help fighters transition, it's purely a money scheme for AIBA If you fight for WSB you still retain your amateur status and can fight in the Olympics they even said on the telecast that those fights weren't going to be counted against him, but it still appears to be a sketchy area.

The WSB is not pro boxing, I don't know why people try to use this against Loma. It's Actually a great idea to have a "semi-pro" league for fighters to transition from amateur to pro. I agree that there should be a semi pro league but one in which you can only face amateurs and still be considered an amateur. Let's be honest The WSB was not set up to help fighters transition, it's purely a money scheme for AIBA

Tszyu, Klitschko, Arbachakov are ATG's in their division and the Soviet Union had a very rich history in boxing. Jirov is top 10 CW all time come to think of it and very few amateurs actually turned pro until quite recently. What we have seen in the pros so far is a tiny percentage of the talent Gaydarbekov, Saitov, Artayev, Sapiyev, Lebziak, Romanchuk, Timurziev are examples of boxers in recent years who never went pro. Tszyu, Klitschko, Arbachakov are NOT ATG's............and the war has been over for over 30 years (wlad actually has a horrible resume but his consistency is what will tip him over as a HOF fighter) yet still not one single ATG. (su and wlad are both HOF'S) but not atg's.............not even close. hopkins is A ATG of the last 20 years. so is pac...........I am dead serious when i say that russia doesn't have one ATG fighter. (which makes it poor: historically) to claim that I'm hating on russia is just dumb...........

In all fairness the guy Saensak Muangsurin whom Loma tied the record with was a professional muay thai fighter. So, in a way Loma's achievement means the same if not better given people are bringing up his WSB stint. Sure kickboxing is different, but boxing is an important component of it and does count for experience.

Im puerto rican, but also american, I guess pigsfly means that verdejo isnt american since he represented puerto rico in the olympics and not the US exactly.............amazing that they can't understand this.

Thank you! Russell was the favorite. Russell was being billed as the next big thing. Russell's speed was BEYOND world class. Anyone that doesnt think this was a good win is just a hating, closet, Russell lover. Russell was a 2/1 underdog.

Your memory doesn't go back too far. Guys have fought for the title in their pro debut. Most Olympic Medalists could fight for a title in their first few pro fights if they wanted, but common sense dictates otherwise. Lomachenko, however, was fast-tracked because of his age, so here we are. Really? I admit my ignorance, I had to look it up . It seems it has happened 3 times: 1. Pete Rademacher 1957 2. Jack Skelly 1892 3. Rafael Lovera 1975 I do not know if any boxer as ever fought for a title with a 1-1 record before, but I reckon it is not common. Gold medalist Andre Ward was 15-0 before his first title ( NABO ) and 20-0 before fighting for the WBC title. Michael Spinks was 16-0 , Solis 11-0 (6-0 for the WBC Latin heavyweight ). Lennox Lewis was 13-0 before fighting for the European title, and 22-0 when was declared the WBC Champ. Among those gold medalists nobody is even close to fight for a title when 1-0 or 1-1 . I could go on with Rigondeaux, Ali, Frazier etc. As said, Loma is very good, I honestly like him, but let's not act as if he's not been handed chances that few, if anybody, had before.

Mikey moved up after and is a naturally bigger man and apparently everyone forgets that Salido was coming on and Garcia used the nose as an excuse to quit which people were heavily criticizing him for afterwards saying he has no heart. As for Gamboa he won the majority of rounds but most were very competitive and it was a tough fight. Take away the 40 low blows and Lomachenko would have beat him similar to Gamboa with 1 pro fight. Listen boxxy Gamboa got deducted two points for hitting the guy after he had knocked him down in the last round being too eager trying to finish him as usual, and he still won a wide as fk unanimous decision there is no way you can compare Lomachenko's green no show outing against Salido with that, he was green Salido was declined and it showed,but didnt matter Lomachenko didn't know wtf to do with that . How else do you explain a guy with his talent to have so much trouble with a guy like Salido? This is the pro game everyone who knew boxing knew there was a chance what happened could happen, again he was thrown too deep too soon and lost a dirty ass fight. I wonder what Lomachenko fans thought Salido was gonna do in there try to outbox him? lol He was rough dirty and used every trick in the book to get the W welcome to pro boxing .

And why does that matter? Rigondeaux is someone else who we are not talking about here although he still won, and kept facing tough opposition til he earned his shot the hard way and with 12 fights went on to become p4p even with all the negativity against him. If you think about it Lomachenko's hype worked against him more,and thats why he lost he got thrown too deep too soon. And you are forgetting Mikey handled Salido and so did Gamboa almost murdered him trying to do a fatality on the guy after he was already down on the 12th Salido can and has definitely been handled, by the caliber of boxer Lomachenko was hyped to be, he should have handled Salido's rough sh*t with ease supposedly, he just couldn't because was not ready because the hype exceeded the substance at that moment plain and simple. I fully expect him to handle Salido types with ease once he finds his rythm as a professional. You people talk about Salido like he is some type of goliath boogeyman when he is far from it matter of fact the dude has declined a lot I doubt he is even at the B level gatekeeper level he used to be anymore. Mikey moved up after and is a naturally bigger man and apparently everyone forgets that Salido was coming on and Garcia used the nose as an excuse to quit which people were heavily criticizing him for afterwards saying he has no heart. As for Gamboa he won the majority of rounds but most were very competitive and it was a tough fight. Take away the 40 low blows and Lomachenko would have beat him similar to Gamboa with 1 pro fight.

No rules were bent , but getting a title shot for beating one ranked contender after your pro debut is not always so automatic. Loma is getting a star treatment, which is understandable given his amateur background, but still undeniable. What other 1-1 fighter would have gotten a title shot?. Does his amateur background justify this?. Your memory doesn't go back too far. Guys have fought for the title in their pro debut. Most Olympic Medalists could fight for a title in their first few pro fights if they wanted, but common sense dictates otherwise. Lomachenko, however, was fast-tracked because of his age, so here we are.

he wasn't facing amateurs, he was facing fighters that were paid just like him, as a matter of fact he probably was facing better opponents than all the bums Russel faced in his entire career, y the way you get pay money in boxing you are a professional, that's why the commentators mentioned the asterisk... The discussion has been had before - the fighters were getting paid effectively in salaries - living expenses training costs etc. For a fight to be a professional bout it has to fall under the jurisdiction of one of the professional sanctioning bodies and a governing body such as a SAC or the BBBofC. You can argue the sematics but according to the law the WSB was no more pro boxing than if you paid a couple of guys $20 to lace up in your back yard ring.

winning a vacant title is not hard man..there are literally like 8 titles with the regular,interim,super etc etc a fighter can win...now win the "LINEAL" title and we are talking If it ain't hard then why haven't you (or me) done it?

1. Lomachenko beat a ranked WBO contender in his first fight. 2. Because he beat a ranked WBO contender, he gets to be ranked by the WBO 3. The WBO champion can defend his title against any ranked contender. 4. Salido (The WBO champion) defended his title against Lomachenko (a ranked contender) 5. Salido missed weight, lost his belt and it was a non-title bout 6. Lomachenko gets a second opportunity to fight for the title because of those circumstances against Russell. If Salido made weight, it would have been Salido vs. Russell for the title. What rules were bent? This is how boxing organizations have always worked. No rules were bent , but getting a title shot for beating one ranked contender after your pro debut is not always so automatic. Loma is getting a star treatment, which is understandable given his amateur background, but still undeniable. What other 1-1 fighter would have gotten a title shot?. Does his amateur background justify this?. Only partially, in my opinion. There are guys working as hard as he does who neither get the chance nor the money. Once again, it is understandable but not necessarily fair or justified. Loma has talent and a great potential though, that much I won't argue.

he wasn't facing amateurs, he was facing fighters that were paid just like him, as a matter of fact he probably was facing better opponents than all the bums Russel faced in his entire career, y the way you get pay money in boxing you are a professional, that's why the commentators mentioned the asterisk... That's also the case with top level amateurs before WSB, they consistently fight strong comp Don't Cuban amateurs also get paid, however paltry? They don't have day jobs, right?

And why does that matter? Rigondeaux is someone else who we are not talking about here although he still won, and kept facing tough opposition til he earned his shot the hard way and with 12 fights went on to become p4p even with all the negativity against him. If you think about it Lomachenko's hype worked against him more,and thats why he lost he got thrown too deep too soon. And you are forgetting Mikey handled Salido and so did Gamboa almost murdered him trying to do a fatality on the guy after he was already down on the 12th Salido can and has definitely been handled, by the caliber of boxer Lomachenko was hyped to be, he should have handled Salido's rough sh*t with ease supposedly, he just couldn't because was not ready because the hype exceeded the substance at that moment plain and simple. I fully expect him to handle Salido types with ease once he finds his rythm as a professional. You people talk about Salido like he is some type of goliath boogeyman when he is far from it matter of fact the dude has declined a lot I doubt he is even at the B level gatekeeper level he used to be anymore. All those guys were mature champ level when facing Salido. Pro experience matters, which is why I brought up Rigo Cordoba. You could say, if Rigo was as good as Bernard Dunne, he would have stopped the guy.

And why does that matter? Rigondeaux is someone else who we are not talking about here although he still won, and kept facing tough opposition til he earned his shot the hard way and with 12 fights went on to become p4p even with all the negativity against him. If you think about it Lomachenko's hype worked against him more,and thats why he lost he got thrown too deep too soon. And you are forgetting Mikey handled Salido and so did Gamboa almost murdered him trying to do a fatality on the guy after he was already down on the 12th Salido can and has definitely been handled, by the caliber of boxer Lomachenko was hyped to be, he should have handled Salido's rough sh*t with ease supposedly, he just couldn't because was not ready because the hype exceeded the substance at that moment plain and simple. I fully expect him to handle Salido types with ease once he finds his rythm as a professional. You people talk about Salido like he is some type of goliath boogeyman when he is far from it matter of fact the dude has declined a lot I doubt he is even at the B level gatekeeper level he used to be anymore. Bro Salido was 150 pounds with the speed of Ali and the strength of Tyson. Loma won but was robbed by racist judges

How could it have been when he was facing amateurs in WSB?he wasn't facing amateurs, he was facing fighters that were paid just like him, as a matter of fact he probably was facing better opponents than all the bums Russel faced in his entire career, y the way you get pay money in boxing you are a professional, that's why the commentators mentioned the asterisk...