How will Lomachenko's career will be remembered after he retires.

[crimsonfalcon07]

what? Nicholas was the WBA champ.

Not at 130 he wasn't. He was a featherweight champ.

[Cypocryphy]

Not at 130 he wasn't. He was a featherweight champ.

Oh yeah. That's right. Incidentally, he's fought twice this year. Crazy.

[Malvado]

Well, it will be debated for years to come, I'm sure. However, in my mind, Loma is the undisputed champ of the lightweight division, so I have him already as an ATG.

I can't give guys credit for blatant robberies, and likewise, I can't take away from guys who were robbed. I just can't do it. It's kind of funny because I used to get into an argument with the Canelo fans about Golvokin being the champ and having beat Canelo twice. Now, nobody even argues it anymore. It's just accepted.

I imagine in time, it will be the same with Loma.

I don't see defining a fighter by his losses but by his victories and accolades, sadly while I still see Lomachenko winning 7-5 against Haney, he still had lost, he had also underperformed against Salido and Lopez due to his circumstances, with Salido utilizing dirty tactics and being far more experienced, with Lopez winning more rounds against an unactive injured Loma.

I see him as a HOF with ATG level of talent like Whitaker and ODLH, but he just didn't achieve enough in a single division.

[Cypocryphy]

I don't see defining a fighter by his losses but by his victories and accolades, sadly while I still see Lomachenko winning 7-5 against Haney, he still had lost, he had also underperformed against Salido and Lopez due to his circumstances, with Salido utilizing dirty tactics and being far more experienced, with Lopez winning more rounds against an unactive injured Loma.

I see him as a HOF with ATG level of talent like Whittaker and ODLH, but he just didn't achieve enough in a single division.

There will definitely be differing opinions on this. But I think it's a terrible mistake to champion the business of boxing rather than the performance.

Against Salido, he clearly outlanded him. In fact, he dropped Salido from what I remember. One of the judges had him winning that fight. Someone counted all the low blows once, and it was more than 70. I thought that was an exaggeration until I saw it. That means the judges were counting those low blows as scoring punches. So you had incompetence give the fight to the wrong guy.

Against Lopez, I still didn't see Lopez win. I'm there with Andre Ward, where at best, that fight was a draw. And the only one landing effective punches was Loma.

Then you have Loma with Haney, and I'll just leave it at that. I'm not going to beat a dead horse.

The point is that they were never going to let Loma beat Lopez or Haney. And this has nothing to do with Top Rank, necessarily. It has almost everything to do with the Nevada Athletic Commission. Even though it's a state agency, it doesn't receive any funding from the state of Nevada. Its sole source of revenue is from sporting events and the taxes it imposes on those events, from gate tax to broadcasting tax. That's how that agency makes money, and the most lucrative sport for the NSAC is boxing. The NSAC is highly concerned with who wins and who doesn't win, and it's more invested in fighters that will be fighting in Nevada rather than fighters fighting in some other area. So you will see the agency actually push certain boxers to win who it views as having larger overall revenue value to the agency. It's as if a company had two products, and the new product that it just produced costs more (like the new iPhone), and the company will push that product to increase sales, to further increase revenue. Likewise, the NSAC will work to maximize its profits by working together with networks and promotional agencies to help maximize its profits. These invariably means that the younger, American fighter will be pushed as the new shiny product, and they will do what they can to prevent their new product diminishing its value and potential future revenue generation.

When you see things for what they are, you realize that it's not a sport; it's a business. It's kind of like saying the Rock is the greatest wrestler who ever lived, based on his wrestling record. The reality is that he was not the best wrestler, just one of the most marketable products of the WWE.

So when we list fighters as all time greats based on records, you actually aren't recognizing who the best fighter actually is, just the fighter that was pushed as a product. This is true also for past fighters where the mob often manipulated fights. Crowning ATG requires the ability to cut through all the bull**** and see things for what they actually are. We can't champion guys because they are a better product rather than a great fighter.

I certainly can't do that.

[MulaKO]

Not giving Loma credit for being a great fighter is just hate imo
Close as fugh to be an atg
Won’t say more about it

[tonysoprano]

I think it’s great he didn’t have any filler fights just went straight to title level.

Too many waste time fighting bums, he could easily have done that but didn’t.

[BustedKnuckles]

He beat himself most times. All of his fights that he officially lost, he had all the momentum by the end of the fight. Started too slow vs Salido, gave away 7 rounds vs Lopez, and beat the brakes off Haney. I think he might have stopped Haney if he hadn't taken his foot off the gas pedal. I understand the Salido one as that was so early on, but there's been so many fights that, just come on man.

Like, he knew he was injured for the Lopez fight. Why not just postpone? Too arrogant, thinking he could win with one arm and give away 7 rounds to boot. Should have stopped Commey. Where was the killer instinct? Should have stepped on the gas against Haney and left it all in the ring. Not like Haney hits hard enough to risk a stoppage loss, and dominating and stopping Haney would have been a heck of a statement.

One of my favorite fighters and very cerebral about his style. But I think I'll always feel some regret that he didn't make his career MORE because of those decisions he made.

This is the nest answer for me. Sums up my feelings too.

[Elheath]

A great fighter overall and already one of the top tier boxers in the lower weight divisions as it is, but could've been even greater had he turned pro in 2009 after his first gold medal instead of waiting until 2013.

In an alternate universe, we could've been talking about who is/was the best lower weight division boxer of this century, Loma or Inoue (disregarding Pacman because I consider his greatness is more due to the combination of his achievements at his higher weight class mixed with the lower ones).

[Haka]

He beat himself most times. All of his fights that he officially lost, he had all the momentum by the end of the fight. Started too slow vs Salido, gave away 7 rounds vs Lopez, and beat the brakes off Haney. I think he might have stopped Haney if he hadn't taken his foot off the gas pedal. I understand the Salido one as that was so early on, but there's been so many fights that, just come on man.

Like, he knew he was injured for the Lopez fight. Why not just postpone? Too arrogant, thinking he could win with one arm and give away 7 rounds to boot. Should have stopped Commey. Where was the killer instinct? Should have stepped on the gas against Haney and left it all in the ring. Not like Haney hits hard enough to risk a stoppage loss, and dominating and stopping Haney would have been a heck of a statement.

One of my favorite fighters and very cerebral about his style. But I think I'll always feel some regret that he didn't make his career MORE because of those decisions he made.

He arguable won all three fights, run those vids on an AI and he'll come on top for all those fights. I do agree with Loma not having reached his highest potential. It may be that his amateur tendencies made him too timid although hard to catch.

[eco1]

A guy who was robbed by the judges a dew times and was never given a proper rematch because they knew he would win them.