Hola familia y amigos, welcome to a locally sourced, post-Soviet scented edition of Central America’s most money-spinning, highest grossing weekly proper pugilistic paper, The Sunday Brunch – We are the linguistic expression corresponding to an inference of one particular to another particular where at least one of the premises or the conclusion is general…or something. Today we’re high on a particular fighter, a man from the Ukraine who has burst onto the professional boxing scene (not the malware infection site) to capture the minds of boxing aficionados across the globe; of course, we’re talking about “Hi-Tech” Vasyl Lomachenko. So, grab a hold of your borscht, whip up some smetana, pampushky and shkvarkas – We’re about to get as biased as Jim Lampley and The Fight Game. With that being said, I gave you your instructions in the dressing room, what I say you must obey – Cuidate, escucha me, toca los manos y buena suerte…Let’s get it on!
8.
Vasyl Lomachenko won two Olympic gold medals and gold in two out of the three World Amateur Championships he competed in. In 2007 he was awarded a silver medal when he lost to Albert Selimov…
7.
“Hi-Tech” has one of the all-time best amateur boxing records, an astonishing 396-1 – even more impressive than the incredible Guillermo Rigondeaux’s 374-12 – (the aforementioned loss to Albert Selimov was twice avenged).
6.
The Ukrainian was awarded the coveted Val Barker Trophy, an award which is presented every four years to an Olympic boxer who “exemplifies style during competition”. Lomachenko is in a very small group along with fighters such as Roy Jones and Teofilo Stevenson, among others.
5.
The 26 year-old has only four official professional fights under his belt (6-0 in World Series of Boxing), but his wealth of experience makes his opponents look like novices in comparison. When he faced off against veteran, Orlando Salido, the elder fighter used every trick in the book to nab the victory against the then 1-0 fighter. Salido came in, some would say purposefully overweight (11 pounds heavier on fight night), thus giving him a significant size advantage over Lomachenko. Roughhouse tactics were dutifully employed and the Ukrainian – despite a late surge to hurt the Mexican – lost that bout by two or three points in a split decision; one that Orlando Salido gave up his belt on the scales to secure.
4.
In his third professional bout, Vasyl Lomachenko defeated Gary Russell Jr. to claim the WBO featherweight title. Scores were 116-112 x2 with one judge seeing it even, though most scorers had Lomachenko dominating nearly every moment of the fight. The Ukrainian threw 209 less punches, but landed 100 more, which left his opponent with an embarrassing 10% connect percentage.
3.
Vasyl Lomachenko’s footwork, hand speed and power makes him among the very best in the sport, his thoroughbred pedigree will make him one of the most dominant fighters of this era.
2.
Lomachenko beats everyone in his weight range including Yuriorkis Gamboa, Billy Dib, Evgeny Gradovich, Nicholas Walters, Mikey Garcia and Nonito Donaire.
1.
Pound-for-pound is a term which describes a non-tangible achievement in which a fighter’s experiences, opposition, skill set and overall boxing acumen are judged…It’s an assessment of the idea of all things being equal, how a boxer would fare against anyone, in any division. As of now, Vasyl Lomachenko falls short in a few of those categories, but in just a few years, the man will meteorically rise through those rankings and literally dominate the boxing landscape.
Thanks for joining us again this week, we’ll be back next time with another top 8 list, randomly configured words, dangling participles and run-on sentences. Please fuse Devon Alexander’s gigantic head with H.R. Giger’s Bull Alien head and send to JESSEBOXINGTRIBUNE@GMAIL.COM or tell me why Manny Pacquiao will surely defeat Wladimir Klitschko on Twitter @JESSEBOXING. Add me on Facebook by typing my name in that funny little search bar – Jesse Ian Lardies. Until next time, sante.
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