Vasyl Lomachenko (17-2, 11 KOs) made a late surge to defeat previously unbeaten Jamaine Ortiz (16-1-1, 8 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night in a fight that was much closer than the scores handed down by two of the judges at Madison Square Garden in New York.
The judges scored it 115-113, 116-112, and 117-111. Of those three, the 115-113 score made the most sense, given that Ortiz appeared to win at least five rounds. He fought well enough to take the first four and the eighth.
The 26-year-old Ortiz used his huge size advantage to get the better of the former three-division world champion Lomachenko in the first four rounds.
Ortiz looked like a rehydrated welterweight inside the ring tonight, and his size worked in his favor against the smaller Lomachenko early on.
But like a lot of fighters that drain themselves to compete in divisions that are below their body size doesn’t support, Ortiz faded badly in the second half of the contest, which allowed Lomachenko to take control and rally for victory.
Lomachenko used his speed, combinations, and pinpoint, accurate shots to get the better of Ortiz from the fifth through the twelfth.
Early on in the fight, Lomachenko’s right eye was reddened from a right hand that Ortiz threw. The punches missed, but the right wrist with tape scrapped Lomachenko’s right eye, causing it to redden.
In the fifth round, Ortiz’s left eye began to swell up after Lomachenko nailed him with a hard right hand.
After the fight, a HUGE-looking undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney entered the ring, and he expressed interest in fighting Lomachenko next.
During one instance, Lomachenko kidded Haney about him resembling a “heavyweight” size. That was a bit much. In reality, Haney looked like a 154-pounder inside the ring.
The thing is, Haney didn’t look fat. He just appeared filled out and not drained as he’d been for his fight with George Kambosos Jr on October 15th.
In the co-feature bout, featherweight contender Robeisy Ramirez (11-1, 7 KOs) stopped Jose Matias Romero (26-3, 9 KOs) in the ninth round of a scheduled ten round bout.
The southpaw Robeisy hurt Romero with a left to the head in the ninth, which caused his legs to turn to jelly, resulting in him flying backwards to the ropes.
Robeisy then landed too perfectly placed lefts to the head that, causing the referee to step in and stop the bout.
Up until the knockout, Robeisy hadn’t looked that good, as he was mostly throwing single punches and failing to attack the overmatched Romero in the way that he needed for him to knock him out.
Robeisy is now expected to fight Isaac Dogboe next for the WBO featherweight title after Emmanuel Navarrete moves up to 130.
