Not one, not two, but the last three fighters to have shared a ring with Vasyl Lomachenko have flat-out quit, retired on their stool. Good fighters all three – Nicholas Walters, Jason Sosa and Miguel Marriaga – the trio were forced to capitulate due to the pain, frustration and just simple embarrassment that came about inside the four squares on the night they met the boxer with the most deceptive pro record ever.
Lomachenko has knocked guys cold and he has decisioned a couple of opponents; but just lately, the southpaw technician known as “Hi-Tech” has been making opponents wave the white flag. How shocking would it be if the accomplished and trash-talking Guillermo Rigondeaux was made to quit on Saturday night? Perhaps it is disrespectful to even ask such a question – and Cuban master-boxer Rigondeaux has vowed to make all the naysayers eat their words – but Lomachenko is that good in the opinion of some.
Is Rigondeaux a boxer who, if things get too hot, the action not going his way, look for some excuse to get out and save face? If so, is Lomachenko the kind of fighter to bring this unedifying quality out of Rigondeaux? Again, it could be a notion that is brutally shot down post-fight, with a Rigondeaux masterpiece, the kind Saturday’s challenger is predicting, forcing anyone who had the temerity to doubt him take a large slice of humble pie.
But Lomachenko, at an open workout, has told us not to be shocked if he does make Rigondeaux quit. Would it be up there with the great Roberto Duran waving an arm in frustration and uttering the words “No Mas” if Rigondeaux quit against Lomachenko? No, but it would cause ripples within the sport all the same.
Could it happen? Will it happen? Who are you picking in this, one of the most talent-rich and hugely fascinating fights in quite some time? Maybe we will see 12 engrossing rounds unfold, at the end of which the three scoring judges embark on the toughest of tough tasks of deciding which boxing brain cancelled out the over. Maybe we will witness a display of dominance by champ or challenger, with a sizzling KO deciding matters. Or maybe, just maybe, we will see Lomachenko make his fourth foe in a row quit on his stool.
