Feature: Vasily Lomachenko v Teofimo Lopez. All The Belts, All The Hype

One of the most iconic, observed and thrilling divisions in all of boxing is the Lightweight limit of 9 Stone 9 Pounds. Many of the greats have been here before, Floyd Mayweather, Roberto Duran, Manny Pacquiao and Sugar Ray Robinson to name a few. On Saturday night, a man who is almost certainly destined to have his name added to this elite list of pound for pound greats takes on his toughest challenge to date, as WBA, WBC, WBO & Ring king looks to go undisputed, and truly undisputed when he takes on IBF gatekeeper Teofimo Lopez, in Vegas to a subsidised crowd with the ongoing Coronavirus Pandemic keeping fans away. 

The Champion

I'll keep this part short. Vasily Lomachenko in the eyes of many is the best boxer on this planet and has been for several years. 3 Weights, 5 Belts, 1 sensational world champion. Lomachenko is known for his fast paced, hi-tech movement with devastating power, to accompany his lightning reflexes and natural defensive abilities. 15 fights as a professional, with 14 being world title bouts winning 13 of them, quite literally numbers that speak for themselves. 

The Challenger

Prior to his devastating knockout of former world champion Richard Commey at Madison Square Garden last year, Teofimo Lopez has had a quiet, quick and consistent rise up the rankings at Lightweight. Aged just 23, 'EL Brooklyn' has a perfect 15-0 record, knocking 12 of his opponents out and looking good doing it. Lopez also has a very awkward style and is a tricky one to prepare for, but above all else, his KO power is arguably the best seen since Julio Cesar Chavez in the early 80s, a major statement considering his age and resume. 

The Importance

Saturday night is a mega fight, and as much as that title always carries importance for one reason or another, the main two being that we will declare an undisputed champion at Lightweight, the first time since 1990 when the late great Pernell Whitaker knocked out Juan Nazario in the first round. The other factor of importance that Saturday night carries is a question of legacy, particularly for Loma. Since he beat Gary Russell JR in his 3rd professional fight for the WBO Featherweight title, he has never lost, never looked like losing and most importantly, never left the ring without a world title around his waist. Performing greatness was a lot easier when fighters only had one belt to defend, but Vasily Lomachenko is giving boxing that old analogy of 'one face, one name, one champion' and embracing it in only a way he knows how. Lomachenko's CV is already beyond reasonable, his opponents had a combined record of 446-39, showing evidently that he is only willing to fight the best there is, a true sign of a great. The importance for Lopez is just as apparent, he truly believes he is in with a shot of defying the odds-on Saturday night and with the crowd absent, could the irregular atmosphere have any impact on Loma's performance?

Who Wins?

Well, as ever in Boxing there is two sides to every fight and this one, I believe is much closer than many people are saying. Teofimo Lopez deserves respect for taking this fight, and respect equally for the amount of confidence that he has given himself throughout the camp. But it is almost impossible to look past Vasily Lomachenko in any fight. If anybody is likely to dethrone Loma from his pound for pound status, it is most likely to be America's two wonderkids, Gervonta Davis or Lopez himself. I have to favour Lomachenko in this fight as I would any, but don't count Lopez out and expect it to live up to the mega fight title given throughout the world.