Vasiliy Lomachenko: record, next fight and profile →
WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol of Russia is not surprised with the level of talent to come out of Ukraine in the last few years. Vasiliy Lomachenko, Artem Dalakian, Oleksandr Usyk and Oleksandr Gvozdyk are fierce world champions who are widely regarded as some of the best fighters in the world. There are several others from Ukraine who are rising up in the ranks.
Ideally, Vasiliy Lomachenko would like to fight Mikey Garcia when he returns to the ring in the spring. Lomachenko realizes that’s not possible because Garcia has agreed to move up two weight classes to challenge IBF welterweight champ Errol Spence Jr. on March 16. The WBA/WBO lightweight champion expects Spence to beat Garcia, but Lomachenko still hopes to test himself against Garcia later in 2019.
Jose Pedraza’s first loss was by brutal seventh-round stoppage at 130 pounds against southpaw Gervonta “Tank” Davis in January 2017, and his second, at 135 pounds by unanimous decision to left-hander Vasyl Lomachenko on Saturday night.
Vasiliy Lomachenko-Jose Pedraza was the second most-watched boxing match on American cable or network television this year. Nielsen ratings released Tuesday indicated that ESPN’s Lomachenko-Pedraza fight attracted an of 2,013,000 viewers Saturday night from The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York. The entire three-fight telecast averaged 1,865,000 viewers over three hours and 23 minutes.
Jose Pedraza impressed Vasiliy Lomachenko on Saturday night. Lomachenko dropped Pedraza twice in the 11th round and convincingly beat him on all three scorecards in their 12-round, 135-pound title unification fight in The Theater at Madison Square Garden. Nevertheless, the WBA/WBO lightweight champion came away from their tactical battle convinced that the version of Pedraza he encountered would’ve defeated Gervonta Davis.
Commey first must defeat Isa Chaniev in their fight for the vacant IBF lightweight title, scheduled for February 2 in Frisco, Texas. Ghana’s Commey (27-2, 24 KOs) and Russia’s Chaniev (13-1, 6 KOs) will fight for a championship Mikey Garcia relinquished to move up to welterweight to challenge IBF 147-pound champ Errol Spence Jr. on March 16 in Arlington, Texas.
According to a report from El Nuevo Día of Puerto Rico, Top Rank - who promote Puerto Rican contender Felix Verdejo - were trying to match the once-beaten boxer against former world champion Yuriorkis Gamboa. But Jessie Rodriguez, manager of Gamboa, rejects any talk of a fight with Verdejo. He says his boxer is going to face Juan Manuel Lopez in March - and then they plan to target a fight with WBO, WBA lightweight champion Vasiliy Lomachenko.
Jose Pedraza’s first loss was by vicious seventh-round stoppage at 130 pounds to southpaw Gervonta Davis in January 2017, and his second, at 135 pounds by unanimous decision to left-hander Vasyl Lomachenko on Saturday night. So which of the two is the best fighter overall?
Vasiliy Lomachenko added the World Boxing Organization lightweight world title to his World Boxing Association belt with a unanimous 12-round decision over Jose Pedraza on Saturday.
Last night, Top Rank on ESPN (9:12 p.m. ET to 12:35 a.m. ET.) witnessed Vasiliy Lomachenko (12-1, 9 KOs), the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world (according to ESPN.com ranking), accomplish another career highlight.