Vasyl Lomachenko dominated yet again tonight in his HBO main event against Jason Sosa. Both other Ukrainian fighters fared well as well, especially Oleksandr Gvozdyk. It was a successful night for boxing as a whole as the card confirmed a top fighter, birthed a star, and reaffirmed a pound for pound elite.
I said it in the preview, and I will say it again. Vasyl Lomachenko (8-1, 6 KOs) is the best fighter in the world. With all do respect to Chocolatito, to Ward, to Kovalev, to Golovkin, I don’t even think it is close. Lomachenko is a boxing deity. There is no one at 126 or 130 who I believe can even be competitive with him. That includes Orlando Salido who has registered the one in Vasyl’s loss column. The fight would be so different now with the pro level experience under the Ukrainian’s belt. Competition would be a little different at lightweight where I feel Lomachenko would really start to be a small fighter.
Credit to Jason Sosa (20-2-4, 15 KOs) for his heart and effort. He would have been better to talk less in the ring as it seemed to inspire his superior opponent to punish him a bit, but he tried to the end and had to be saved by his corner. A round too late, in truth, but saved nonetheless. Even Lomachenko seemed to be taking pity on him by the end, bowing in sympathy at the end of the eighth and taking it rather easy on Sosa in the ninth.
After the fight Kellerman spoke to Lomachenko about future opponents. He proclaimed he would be happy to move to 135 and fight Mikey Garcia next when prodded by Max. He also taunted Salido a bit, but he seems largely resigned to the idea that Salido isn’t going to fight him again.
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Another star was born in Oleksandr Gvozdyk (13-0, 11 KOs) tonight thanks to his thorough and spectacular dissection of a good fighter in Cuban Yunieski Gonzales (18-2, 14 KOs). Using superior movement, quickness, and an ability to maintain distance, Gvozdyk completely and totally outclassed a fighter that almost everyone, including myself, figured would be a challenging opponent for him in this stage of his career. Gonzales was not. The Ukrainian prospect turned contender Gvozdyk easily outboxed Gonzales through two, but it was the third round when he decided to sit down on his punches. From there, devastation. Gonzales was put on his back twice and helpless to do anything about it even as he gamely threw back. Referee Harvey Dock finally showed him mercy, maybe a little later than he should have, but mercy nonetheless. No future in boxing is brighter than that of Oleksandr Gvozdyk tonight.
In the opener top cruiserweight and WBO titlists Oleksandr Usyk (12-0, 10 KOs) withstood an early test from the (at least to me) better than expected Michael Hunter (12-1, 8 KOs). I scored the first three for Hunter who was able to use a good jab, excellent lateral movement, and just sheer volume of punches to great effect. Class shows over time, however, and Usyk got going in the fourth with by switching to a body-centric gameplan. Hunter remained at least somewhat competitive throughout, but from the fifth on Usyk won every round. The 12th was an extremely one sided round in which Usyk nearly finished the fight a couple times, but the referee chose to let Hunter see the final bell after giving him a standing eight count for being held up by the ropes. Despite the beating at the end, Hunter acquitted himself well and now factors seriously into an already deep division. Usyk remains the top cruiserweight in my estimation.
