Vasyl Lomachenko will fight Jonathan Oquendo in a 10 round featherweight bout on the undercard of Juan Manuel Marquez and Timothy Bradley in Las Vegas on October 12. If you are wondering why a newcomer is rushed into a 10 round fight on his debut instead of a four or a six rounder, it’s because of his outstanding amateur pedigree and unique skill set.
Lomachenko is a double Olympic champion, a double World champion and he boasts a record of 396-1 in the amateur ranks. He brings over 1000 quality rounds of experience and this is something money can’t buy. His style is a complete package and you have to see him in action to appreciate a power plant of skill and athleticism. To make things even bleaker for his opponents, he is also a southpaw with power in both hands.
He hails from Ukraine like the Klitschko brothers but he apparently is not a fan of theirs. Lomachenko and Oleksander Usik (a current Olympic cruiserweight champ) made a hilarious YouTube video in which they take turns in mocking Klitshkos’ styles and facial expressions while shadow boxing at an exaggerated long range. The prejudiced slur “eastern bloc robot” associated with the early Klitscko performances would be extremely inappropriate and unfair towards Lomachenko. I expect him to chainsaw his way to the top outclassing his opposition. He is apparently being “fast-tracked” by Bob Arum to high-profile bouts. We will see if he remains at featherweight, perhaps it depends on what particular champions will be targeted by his management.
Vasyl has already won a couple of 6 round bouts in the World Boxing Series, an amateur format that closely mimics professional boxing. The difference is that in the WBS platform the best fight the best. There are no questions about his stamina and conditioning. His father is a boxing coach who started grooming his son for boxing at the age of six. Lomachenko regularly runs the marathon distance of 42 km/26 miles and swims over a mile in the open waters of the Black Sea in the summer. He has acrobatic agility and strength in the arms and shoulders and performs stands and vaults after bouts. His work ethics and dedication to the craft are beyond any doubt. Vasyl Lomachenko is a name to look out for; it won’t be long before he makes a splash.
