A Rising Star Eyeing the Pound-for-Pound Crown, Vasyl Lomachenko Is Unstoppable

If you woke up Sunday with pay-per-view buyer’s remorse, you’re probably not alone.

Hundreds of thousands in multiple time zones no doubt felt that emptiness as they made walks of shame back into their TV rooms, grappling with the reality that they’d plunked down $59.95 (or $69.95 for a high-definition signal) to watch a prohibitive main event underdog get knocked down six times and perform, well … pretty much exactly like a prohibitive underdog is supposed to.

But prior to the final 12 rounds of barely watchable dreck, there was an engrossing moment or two.

The majority of what was worthwhile came in the second bout of the four-bout show, when Ukrainian-born featherweight Vasyl Lomachenko indicated once again that by the time his career arc is complete, he’ll probably have far surpassed all but the very peak climbers on the premium cable/PPV mountain.

Yes, he’s just that good.

And if you hadn’t been exposed to him prior to Saturday, it was a high-end opening line.

Lest anyone else not be up to speed, Lomachenko turned pro just 13 months ago after finishing up an amateur career that included two Olympic gold medals, two world championships and a preposterously good overall record of 396-1 that included two defeats of the lone man (Albert Selimov) to beat him.

He blitzed through a 28-fight veteran in his punch-for-pay debut last October, then gave an overweight Orlando Salido—who’d won 40 fights and three world titles prior to their get-together—everything he wanted in losing a razor-thin split decision in an encore pro outing five months later.

While it dented Lomachenko's pristine record sooner than desired, the experience also provided the sort of hard-knocks knowledge he'd not have gained from a year's worth of cream puffs. Salido arrived at the weigh-in more than two pounds beyond the featherweight division limit, made no effort to drop the weight and subsequently re-hydrated up to 147 and entered the ring 11 pounds heavier than his second-fight foe.

Once the bell rang, it was a carnival of low blows and assorted roughhousing fouls that might have shocked a less-hearty competitor into submission. Instead, Lomachenko rallied strongly after a slow start, ultimately landed 22 more punches over 12 rounds and had his man in desperate trouble in the final three minutes. 

In fact, had the fight been scheduled for an old-school 15, Salido might not have made the finish.

A crossroads meeting with protected prospect Gary Russell Jr. got Lomachenko back on the winning side in a match for Salido’s discarded championship in June, setting up a return to PPV appetizer status against a 53-fight Thai who’d turned pro five years before the first gold rush in Beijing in 2008.

But it wasn’t just the 26-year-old’s dominance through Saturday’s early rounds that was memorable.

In fact, every bit as impressive as the right uppercut/left hook pair that sent Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo to the floor is the way that Lomachenko, who recoiled and shook his left arm after landing a shot in the sixth, handled the sort of adversity that’s chased many with eons more experience to the sidelines.

Rather than completing the match in full retreat or remaining on his stool to curse purloined luck, the comparative newbie stayed right in the pocket and kept right on battering his No. 1 contender (according to the WBO) with southpaw right hands that remained effective thanks to a sublime blend of speed, snap and footwork. He flicked the left when needed as a range finder and a decoy, and showed a one-arm version of the total package that’s already got him on a fast track to superstardom, after just four fights.

Scores of fighters have emerged from the amateurs with nice records and gold medals.

But none in recent memory—if ever at all—have shown such a complete grasp of the pro game at such a precocious pace.

Needless to say, Lomachenko was thankful that a post-fight X-ray revealed no breaks in either his hand or wrist, as reported by the Los Angeles Times' Lance Pugmire. And no doubt just as thankful was his promoter, Bob Arum.

The Top Rank boss indicated that a 126-pound summit meeting with dynamic Jamaican belt-holder Nicholas Walters could be on the summertime horizon in 2015 in an interview with Fight Hype, following one more preliminary showcase involving the pair in separate bouts in the spring. It’s a worthwhile barometer for the multi-pronged WBO kingpin and an appropriate reward for Walters, the WBA champion who dispatched overhyped ex-fighter of the year Nonito Donaire in six rounds last month in California.

Assuming Lomachenko can emerge from a Walters fight with status intact, he’s got two other champions at 126—Top Rank stablemate Evgeny Gradovich (IBF) and Mexican vet Jhonny Gonzalez (WBC)—to choose from, not to mention a tasty twosome one division south in the form of WBC champ Leo Santa Cruz and dual-belted pound-for-pound commodity Guillermo Rigondeaux (WBA/WBO).

It's an enviable spot when compared to many of the sport's other P4P wannabes, whose own divisions are bereft of the opposition that would legitimize a claim of elite status. Whether the kid continues to fulfill the vast early promise remains to be seen, but it won't be due to nonexistent opportunities.  

Rigondeaux played out his promotional option earlier this year after a perceived prolonged lack of appreciation at Top Rank, but it’s safe to assume Arum’s already got the Cuban's people on speed dial to kick around the idea of a PPV reconciliation if both can remain pristine for the next 12 months.

There’s no guarantee, of course, that Lomachenko will prove Arum’s choice of clientele correct.

But if he’s going to go get someone's name tattooed onto 82-year-old skin, he could do a lot worse.