A vital have a look at the previous week in boxing
BIGGEST WINNER
Vasiliy Lomachenko
I don’t know whether or not Lomachenko can beat 135-pound rivals Shakur Stevenson and Gervonta Davis, two rising younger stars. Stevenson mirrors the Ukrainian when it comes to pure ability however he’s youthful by a decade. And Davis is a more-complete fighter, with each technical capacity and one-punch knockout energy.
I gained’t put something previous Lomachenko, nevertheless. He’s nonetheless sensible at 36.
That was apparent on Saturday evening in Perth, Australia, the place he staged a clinic that embarrassed former champion George Kambosos Jr.. Lomachenko simply outboxed the Aussie for 10-plus rounds, wore him down and at last knocked him out within the eleventh to turn into a world titleholder for the primary time in three-plus years.
CompuBox statistics are by no means definitive however they mirrored what occurred within the ring on Saturday. Two numbers stand out. Kambosos landed 10.8% of his punches (40 of 371), proof of Lomachenko’s exceptional defensive capacity. And the winner linked on 50% of his energy pictures (105 of 21), a sign of his precision punching.
And whereas he isn’t identified for his energy, his punches have been heavy sufficient to interrupt down and bloody Kambosos after the loser went down from a left to the physique.
We needs to be measured in our reward due to Kambosos’ limitations. He’s a troublesome, fiery fighter however his ability set is missing. We noticed that in back-to-back-decision losses to Devin Haney. And we noticed it once more in opposition to Lomachenko.
That being stated Kambosos, who as soon as defeated the person who toppled Lomachenko — Teofimo Lopez — to turn into unified 135-pound, was extremely ranked. And Lomachenko made him appear like an beginner.
Lomachenko admitted going into the struggle that he’s starting to really feel his age, significantly when it comes to the restoration course of. For that motive I hope a faces both Stevenson of Davis in his subsequent struggle, when he’ll have a sensible likelihood of profitable.
He definitely deserves it. The 2-time Olympic champion has packed rather a lot into his 21-fight skilled profession, demonstrating a elegant ability set – maybe most notably his footwork – in opposition to prime competitors starting in his first few fights.
Let’s get pleasure from him whereas we nonetheless can.
RABBIT PUNCHES
The ring announcer declares the mistaken winner in Perth then corrects it 😳 pic.twitter.com/ze9Wxt6JaU
— High Rank Boxing (@trboxing) Might 12, 2024
Kambosos (21-3, 10 KOs) apparently is a one-hit surprise. The 30-year-old from Sydney surprised the boxing world by upsetting a less-than-healthy Lopez by a break up determination in 2021 however has struggled since, shedding the 2 fights to Haney, eking out a victory over journeyman Maxi Hughes after which falling nicely brief in opposition to Lomachenko. His plight demonstrates that grit can take a fighter solely up to now. … Everybody makes errors however ring announcer Dan Hennessey made a doozie in Perth, initially getting the outcome mistaken after the Cherneka Johnson-Nina Hughes 118-pound title struggle. Hennessey first introduced that Hughes had gained a call to retain her title solely to comprehend he obtained it mistaken. He then referred to as the fighters again to the middle of the ring and declared that Johnson was the winner and the brand new champion, leaving Hughes feeling cheated and onlookers shaking their heads. The man had one job to do and he failed miserably. ESPN analyst Tim Bradley spoke for everybody watching when he stated, “Get this dude up out of right here.”
