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Vasyl Lomachenko
from www.aiba.org
Vasyl Lomachenko has been the outstanding boxer on the international scene since the Beijing Olympic Games, where he not only won the featherweight gold medal but also the Val Barker Trophy, the "MVP" of the tournament.
He repeated the double at the European Championships in Liverpool last November, and at the AIBA World Championships in Milan he clearly outclassed all five of his opponents, finishing with a cumulative score of 63-7.
Like all of the boxers from Ukraine and Russia, sadly Lomachenko was not permitted to speak to the media before the final. However, after he had picked up his gold medal he happily spoke to www.aiba.org, who started by asking him if he thinks he is a hero for the Ukrainian people.
"Well, I don't know what kind of a reception I will be given at Kiev airport, but yes, I am popular, for sure," said Lomachenko whose smile on the winner's podium was as wide as the margins of his victories. "I've heard that hundreds of thousands of people have been watching my matches on TV and following on the internet in my home country."
Asked how it felt to be so far ahead of the rest of the field, he said: "I never think about things like that, it is up to you reporters to decide who the outstanding boxer of a tournament is. When I enter the ring I clear my mind and try not to think of anything else but the bout."
Away from boxing Lomachenko, who is coached by his father Anatoly, has another sporting passion. "I do ice hockey in my home town of Belgorod-Dnestrovsky [86km south-west of Odessa]. That is my favourite pastime. If my father had not been a boxing coach, I would probably have chosen ice hockey."
Vasyl Lomachenko has been the outstanding boxer on the international scene since the Beijing Olympic Games, where he not only won the featherweight gold medal but also the Val Barker Trophy, the "MVP" of the tournament.
He repeated the double at the European Championships in Liverpool last November, and at the AIBA World Championships in Milan he clearly outclassed all five of his opponents, finishing with a cumulative score of 63-7.
Like all of the boxers from Ukraine and Russia, sadly Lomachenko was not permitted to speak to the media before the final. However, after he had picked up his gold medal he happily spoke to www.aiba.org, who started by asking him if he thinks he is a hero for the Ukrainian people.
"Well, I don't know what kind of a reception I will be given at Kiev airport, but yes, I am popular, for sure," said Lomachenko whose smile on the winner's podium was as wide as the margins of his victories. "I've heard that hundreds of thousands of people have been watching my matches on TV and following on the internet in my home country."
Asked how it felt to be so far ahead of the rest of the field, he said: "I never think about things like that, it is up to you reporters to decide who the outstanding boxer of a tournament is. When I enter the ring I clear my mind and try not to think of anything else but the bout."
Away from boxing Lomachenko, who is coached by his father Anatoly, has another sporting passion. "I do ice hockey in my home town of Belgorod-Dnestrovsky [86km south-west of Odessa]. That is my favourite pastime. If my father had not been a boxing coach, I would probably have chosen ice hockey."
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