Vasyl Lomachenko Must Prove His Elite Status vs. Nicholas Walters

Vasyl Lomachenko is one of the very best fighters in the sport of boxing today.

Well, that's what many boxing experts and ringside observers would have you believe right now. After only six wins and one loss in a total of seven professional fights, Lomachenko is a common entry on pound-for-pound lists pretty much everywhere.

He's currently listed among the top 10, according to ESPN.com, The Ring magazine and BoxingScene.com. For the most recent Bleacher Report rankings, Lomachenko was ranked No. 6.

But has Lomachenko really earned such lofty praise? Has he defeated the kind of competition a true pound-for-pounder must to prove himself?

I love pound-for-pound rankings but concede they are pretty subjective. The criteria for such can be vague, and knowing who's the best fighter in any given weight division is already difficult to judge. Identifying the top one or two fighters in boxing overall is at least conceivable, but how could anyone truly know who the 10 best are?

Frank Franklin II/Associated Press

But pound-for-pound stuff is fun to think about, and the collective opinion of the masses is a pretty good indication of how the boxing community at large see things in any given moment as well as how good any given fighter might be.

And that's just it with Lomachenko. He might be really, really great. But he hasn't done anything to prove it yet.

John Locher/Associated Press

Lomachenko was a very decorated amateur, but all those gold medals don't mean anything now. They probably helped him secure a more lucrative contract and such when he turned pro, but there have been plenty of decorated amateurs who flunked the professional courses.

Still, Lomachenko does appear to have all the tools necessary to be a superb professional. He's tough, aggressive and fast and being a southpaw is an advantage too. Against the likes of solid-but-flawed veteran Rocky Martinez, he looked downright spectacular.

But his two best wins to date came against Martinez and the super-talented but unproven Gary Russell Jr. And while he should be commended for seeking outrageously tough competition in Orlando Salido in just his second professional fight, the loss there only hurt him in his quest for meaningful professional credentials.

Salido is a true blood-and-guts warrior. He's the kind of fighter who makes boxing great. But Salido isn't an elite fighter. He's more Micky Ward than he is Floyd Mayweather.

Saturday night is an important night for Lomachenko. Nicholas Walters is a beast. Undefeated in 27 professional fights, Walters is a stone-cold knockout machine. His domination of Vic Darchinyan and destruction of Nonito Donaire in 2014 grabbed the boxing world's attention, and he's since become one of the sport's most highly regarded punchers.

Walters will be Lomachenko's sternest test. He's extremely tough, a good counterpuncher and the kind of knockout puncher even fighters as skilled as Lomachenko have to be cautious around.

The dude can flat-out bang.

Lomachenko needs to win this fight in a bad way because ultimately potential doesn't really count all that much. One can look like the real deal, but eventually the truth always comes out. And fight fans and boxing writers are fickle. Just as soon as a fighter shows a flaw or weakness, he is cast aside as an everyman—a normal fighter.

There's nothing wrong with a normal fighter mind you. They are the sport's lifeblood. But fans yearn to witness greatness. It's craved in boxing perhaps more than any other sport. It's why just as soon as a fighter looks like he could be something special, the boxing community rushes to endear him with praise. It's why a talented but unproven fighter like Lomachenko is lauded as one of the sport's top pound-for-pound fighters without ever having beaten anyone who might be a stern test for such. In fact, if you go by credentials alone, it's Walters who should be given such respect right now.

In truth, Walters' win over Nonito Donaire—a knockout—singularly eclipses Lomachenko's resume in total. It's truly a shame more people in boxing don't judge a fighter by his record rather than how he looks.

I don't rank Lomachenko as a top-10 pound-for-pound fighter at the moment. I didn't vote for him the last time we voted. It isn't because he doesn't look awesome. He surely does appear to be something special. In fact, I fully expect him to defeat Walters, an excellent fighter mind you, pretty handily.

But Lomachenko should have to prove to be as good as everyone seems to think he is right now before he is given crowns and flowers. There are plenty of other fighters in the sport who should rank ahead of him by virtue of who they have fought and defeated. Perhaps today's culture of lavishing fighters with praise before they prove it is why there seems to be so little superfights in this day and age.

Who knows? Lomachenko might be the next Juan Manuel Lopez. While not held in quite the same ridiculously high esteem, Lopez was highly regarded in his own right until he ran into Salido—the very same one who handed Lomachenko his sole defeat, too, albeit in much more contested and disputable fashion.

Like Walters, though, Salido was Lopez's toughest test, and everyone knew it. But where most believed Lopez would handle Salido, instead it was Salido who exposed Lopez as a severely overrated boxer with fatal flaws in his defense along with a questionable chin.

Since that fight, Lopez has shown himself to be a pretty average fighter. His potential was great, but he did not live up to what most boxing experts thought he could be.

Lomachenko may be just like that. He also might not be. We don't know yet, but we will have a much clearer picture after this weekend. And we would have an even clearer one if he were to fight Salido again too. But this weekend is what's on deck for him now.

A win over Walters would remove all doubt about whether Lomachenko is truly one of the sport's best fighters. He truly might be, but now he has to prove it.