Lomachenko works his magic

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  • Vasyl Lomachenko can create more angles than a protractor. He’s a special fighter, that is obvious. How to beat him, on the other hand, not so much. The Ukrainian successfully defended his WBO junior lightweight title with a seventh-round TKO of Nicholas Walters in Las Vegas on Saturday.

    It wasn’t so much a stoppage, though, it was more Walters gave up. He was systematically unravelled, the Jamaican’s explosive right-hand, one which was hoped would finally test the unblemished chin of Lomachenko, completely defused forcing him to quit before the eighth stanza.

    And he looked like a man trying to dance with a tornado, simply blown away by the two-time Olympic champion. Since turning pro in 2013, the 28-year-old has dazzled and bamboozled his competition with other worldly footwork and speed. His lone defeat from eight appearances in the paid ranks was a controversial split-decision loss to the wily Orlando Salido.

    But factor in his famed amateur record of 396-1 and he’s now 404-2. Simply absurd. The opening rounds were a feeling out process, Lomachenko taking the nod with crisp combinations in the closing stages. The turning point came in the fifth as the champion turned up the heat, doubling then tripling up on the jab and finding a home for his straight left-hand.

    He was sidestepping, swivelling and pivoting away from Walters and in the seventh, he stepped up again, landing two hard rights and rocking the challenger’s head back with a left, ending the round with a flurry. When referee Tony Weeks approached Walters in the corner he’d had enough.

    “After the fifth round I really enjoyed that,” said the Ukrainian. “He said he was a warrior he would do this and that in the build up but what did he really do ? He’s a good fighter, really strong, but he stood there and made it easy for me.” You don’t have to be a hardcore boxing aficionado to appreciate Lomachenko.

    His feet are akin paintbrushes and every time he graces the canvas a masterpiece is left in its wake. There is no one on the planet that has his ability to angle in and out. He throws a two-punch combination in front of you and ends up behind you. He fights in the pocket without getting hit. It’s mind blowing.

    “My goal is to be the No.1 pound for pound fighter in the world,” he added. “I had my plan I knew it would take about four rounds and then I went to work on him. In the end he just quit.”

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    The previously unbeaten Walters had not fought in 11 months as he negotiated the terms of a career-high purse to take on Lomachenko.

    “Almost a year without fighting. I went up in weight. He was more active,” he said. “So if you watch the fight, you see he’s been scoring more than I do. My good shots, they are not connecting. “He’s connecting more clearly than I am touching him. In the last round, he started catching me more and more. He’s a good fighter.”

    Good is an understatement.

    “We watched a modern master, a magician in action tonight,” Lomachenko’s promoter Bob Arum said. “It surprised me he quit but Walters was going to get knocked out. Lomachenko had worked the kid out and was going to stop him in the next round.”

    After the biggest win of his career, Lomachenko will now be angling to make an assault on the No.1 ranking. The competition may not even see it coming.

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