
Lomachenko, Arum Surprised Walters Quit; Arum Says KO Was Coming
LAS VEGAS – Vasyl Lomachenko didn’t sense at any point Saturday night that he was about to make Nicholas Walters quit.
Nicholas Walters: record, next fight and profile →

LAS VEGAS – Vasyl Lomachenko didn’t sense at any point Saturday night that he was about to make Nicholas Walters quit.

By Keith Idec - LAS VEGAS – Vasyl Lomachenko demonstrated Saturday night that the handicappers had it right all along. The unusually skilled southpaw demoralized Nicholas Walters and made the Jamaican contender quit following seven mostly one-sided rounds in their 130-pound title fight Ukraine’s Lomachenko...

Lomachenko vs. Walters Scorecard Live From Las Vegas - Two-division world champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist VASYL LOMACHENKO will defend his World Boxing Organization (WBO) junior lightweight title against undefeated former world featherweight champion NICHOLAS "Axe Man" WALTERS.

Former featherweight champion Nicholas Walters (26-0-1) is very motivated to defeat WBO super featherweight champion and top 10 pound-for-pound fighter Vasyl Lomachenko (6-1).

Working behind an effective jab (8.1 landed per round) Vasyl Lomachenko landed 50.7% of his power punches, while dazzled opponents landed just 8.1 total punches per round and 16.1% of their total punches (half the weight class average) and just 22.3% of their power shots. Nicholas Walters matched Loma's offensive numbers, landing 7.7 jabs per round and 49.8% of his power punches. Opponents landed 21.6% of their total punches and 26.3% of their power shots.

Two-time former world champion Orlando “Siri” Salido will be very interested in tonight’s fight in Las Vegas when old friend WBO junior lightweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko takes on Nicholas Walters in the main event at the Cosmopolitan.

It isn't often in the sport of boxing where you find two fighters with such disparate records face off in a matchup that's virtually a 50-50 coin flip. But when Nicholas Walters (26-0-1, 21 KOs) and Vasyl Lomachenko (6-1, 4 KOs) collide in an intriguing showdown at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas on Saturday, that's exactly it.

For better or worse, the Sergey Kovalev-Andre Ward fight is still the talk of boxing, even though it occurred a week ago. That is too bad, considering the junior lightweight clash tonight between WBO titleholder Vasyl Lomachenko and Nicholas Walters should be receiving more press than what it is getting.

LAS VEGAS – Jason Sosa thinks the lone blemish on Nicholas Walters’ record should be a loss, not a draw. Sosa believes he beat Walters in their 10-round, 130-pound fight December 19 in Verona, New York. Jamaica’s Walters (26-0-1, 21 KOs), who’ll challenge Vasyl Lomachenko (6-1, 4 KOs) tonight at The Cosmopolitan (HBO; 10:35 p.m. ET), said earlier this week that he walked away from the Sosa fight certain that he won it.

LAS VEGAS – Bob Arum knows a thing or two about big underdogs. During the two weeks preceding Super Bowl XLII, the Hall-of-Fame boxing promoter told anyone who would listen to bet the Giants, who opened as a two-touchdown underdog against New England, on the money line. Arum, a Giants season-ticket holder since 1957, did exactly that and won a lot of money when the Giants, a 12-point underdog at kickoff, upset the Patriots, 17-14, in February 2008 in Glendale, Arizona.