He had to overcome adversity in a tense and high level lightweight championship fight, but Vasyl Lomachenko is now a three division world titleholder. He had to rise off the canvas in the sixth round to do it too. Dominican prospect Carlos Adames picked up a win in the co-feature as well.
Vasyl Lomachenko (11-1, 9 KOs) did it thanks to a tenth round body shot that put Jorge Linares (44-4, 27 KOs) down. The Venezuelan titleholder had a pretty good and patient first round against the pound for pound king, but Vasyl took over the next four rounds to have a comfortable lead on my card going into the sixth. It wasn’t the same style of side sided fight that we were used to though as Jorge was throwing and landing back along the way. He wasn’t winning the rounds to my eye, but he was very much in them.
He definitely won the sixth though. Part way through the round Lomachenko uncharacteristically came in on a straight line and Linares unleashed a picture perfect straight right in response. I don’t think Loma was necessarily hurt, but he was knocked back onto the seat of his pants for the first knockdown suffered in his career. He bounced back up and played keep away for the last few seconds of the round. The defending titleholder kept his momentum going in the seventh too with a few beautiful flurries, though Loma started to get his work done too by its end.
The Ukrainian built on the good work he accomplished at the end of the previous frame in the eighth in a pretty dominant round. This was the most one sided three minute set in the fight. I thought Linares was maybe about to collapse like all the Lomachenko opponents in recent memory, but he instead showed some real resolve by narrowly winning the ninth behind a few flashy combinations.
It didn’t matter though. Lomachenko threw out an extended combination in the tenth that had Linares hunched over on the floor. I missed it live, but the shot that put him down was a straight left to the ribs. Linares rose, but the fight was rightfully waved off. He looked like a finished fighter and did not protest. I had Lomachenko up at the time of the stoppage as did most media members, but the official judges actually had this split and extremely tight so the finish proved to be very important for the now three division titleholder.
With the win Vasyl Lomachenko becomes the fastest man to win a third division belt in only his twelfth pro fight, besting Oscar De La Hoya’s record of doing it in twenty two fights by a considerable margin. Post-fight he credited Linares for being a great fighter and thanked his foe for teaching him a lesson in the sixth round. Linares credited Lomachenko for being a great fighter, said he could have continued, and stated he’d be interested in a rematch.
Carlos Adames (14-0, 11 KOs) picked up a solid win in the show’s co-main event over durable Mexican gatekeeper Alejandro Barrera (29-5, 18 KOs). Adames was a notable amateur and has created some real buzz fighting out of the Dominican Republic so many were looking forward to his Top Rank debut here. In the end he put on a good performance. It wasn’t the flashy, hyper dominant statement that fans and promoters dream of prospects making, but Alejandro Barrera is a good, durable fighter and Adames won nearly every round against him. Adames is a big welterweight with pop and is an obvious athlete. He should fight on this level a few more times, but the future remains bright for the Dominican.
