Photos: Sumio Yamada
WBA/WBO lightweight champion Vasiliy Lomachenko (14-1, 10 KOs) added the vacant WBC title with a twelve round unanimous decision over Luke Campbell (20-3, 16 KOs) in a clash between former Olympic gold medalists on Saturday night at the 02 Arena in London. The first four rounds were close. Loma had a big round five. Campbell hurt Loma in round seven, but Loma roared back and punished Campbell. Loma dropped Campbell with a body shot in round eleven and rocked Campbell again in round twelve. Scores were 119-108, 119-108, 118-109. Loma has now unified three of the four major belts.
“Of course I’m happy,” said Lomachenko afterward. “I want to say thank you to {everyone} who came to support us. I want to thank everyone who organized this fight. And, of course, I’m happy. Next…IBF. That is my title…I want to fight {for the IBF title}, but it depends on Bob Arum.”
Campbell stated, “He just beat me so he’s very good. He’s a special fighter and we all knew he was a special fighter. This is boxing and we train to win. Obviously, I’m disappointed in myself for not getting the victory. Tonight was Lomachenko’s night, and my time will come.”
Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum commented, “Obviously, we’re looking to win the fourth belt to unify the title. But Loma and Egis have told they can’t wait to come back to the UK to fight here again. The English fight fans are the best fans in the world. Luke Campbell didn’t disgrace himself. He fought a hell of fight. He’s a hell of a fighter. Big, big heart, and Luke will be back.”
“Loma is up there with Muhammad Ali, Marvin Hagler, Sugar Ray Leonard, Floyd Mayweather, Oscar De La Hoya, Manny Pacquiao. He belongs with those fighters. Listen, it doesn’t matter. He will fight anyone at featherweight, super featherweight or lightweight. Only the best. He’s a special, special fighter.”
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This was a much more thrilling fight than I expected. Loma was in control of most rounds, but not of all. He landed some great shots, and it was a good win, but it wasn’t as dominant as most would have expected. I think that’s the reason why Loma wants to stay at 130lbs – the only problem is there aren’t that many big fights left for him in that division. Mikey Garcia and maybe the Tank – that’s about it. He wants to make history, but he may have to take serious risks to do so.
In any case, it was a great fight and fortunately Oscar didn’t make any arrangements with the judges.
I was not impressed…He’s far from p4p best in the world…far, far from it
Brian: I think that no one has to live up to higher expectations in a fight than Loma. He won a great fight against a very tough opponent today, but for many, anything but a brutal Loma KO will not be enough.
P4P: most of Crawford’s UD wins weren’t better than today’s win by Loma. Let’s see how the next fights for these two fighters go, as well as Usyk’s next fights.
At the moment, Loma is ranked by every single boxing expert in the top 3 P4P, so he can’t be that “far” from being the best, as you comment. At worst he could be #2 or #3.
Lomachenko is the undisputed number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world. don’t let these racists casuals sway you from a common sense fact. Crawford has beaten no one and hasn’t even faced an elite fighter. He will have to fight and beat Spence convincingly to take the top spot. The Ukrainian is a super featherweight at best fighting giant light weights and beating them convincingly. He is a 3 division champion and undefeated in Fair fights. His resume s**** all over Crawford’s and even canelo’s.
There are no controversial wins on lomachenko’s ledger and besides Pacquiao is the only active fighter to have to stoppage wins over two pound for pound top 10 entrance at the time that he fought them. Only racists do not have lomachenko as the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
Chris you are so simple minded that you have convinced yourself that if people disagree with your thoughts on white fighters they are racists. Loma is a good fighter but to say that he is P4P king and that his resume is better than Canelo’s and Crawford’s speaks to your ignorance. Loma is nothing more than a decent fighter, not yet P4P and has a long way to go.
I presume by 2 top 10 p4p fighter you mean Rigondeaux who moved up 2 divisions to fight Loma & Linares who had been KO’d 3 times already. Not impressive to me. For me to rate him No 1 P4P he would need a few more big wins, maybe Tank Davis & Berchelt would Suffice but Crolla & Campbell is not enough. maybe i’m just hard to please. I agree with your statement on Crawford.
Just going purely on the record books, Canelo’s wins over GGG (thought GGG won btw), Lara (Close) & Jacobs (Very Close) are better names to have beaten than most of Loma’s. I really would not have anyone as a definitive P4P No.1 at this stage
He’s a white guy, of course, he’s p4p the best
Exactly!!! The new great White hope. Let them claim a Ukrainian. Lmao
Great fight between two decorated amateurs.Great display of skills,tactics….
Luke showed amazing heart but Loma is simply amazing.
That was about as good as anyone “not named Crawford” could do against someone named Lomachenko.
I was relieved to see that the judges scores it right this time. Even 117-110 would have been acceptable; one of judges didn’t even give Campbell a single round, which I found harsh. He won at least round #1 and two more rounds were fairly close. All in all, a very hard fought win by Loma which will give hope to some future opponents out there.
@stonefree, I agree.. Definitely a UD win. But not giving Campbell a round should have a judge stripped of his duty.
@ Caligula: I don’t understand that either, especially since the fight was in England, and the local commentators all heavily pro Campbell.
In any case, he got that one round (#1) from two of the judges.
Every body calm down…It’s understandable since that judge went to the Adaide Bird school of judging.
119-108 one round
And other judge 2
He won 1 round on two scorecards and two rounds on third scorecard.
I had it 117-110
I had 117-110 as well. I had Campbell rallying somewhat in 9 and 10. Loma erased all that.
What are you talking about? Two judges gave him a round.
Every time I watch Loma fight at Lightweight I’m taken by the fact of how much smaller he is. And even with a 15 to 20 pound disadvantage Loma was still hurting Campbell who’d never been knocked down before. Have you ever seen someone stay on the body the way he did. Boxing IQ coming out his ears! You don’t learn that in the amateurs. Loma is a stone cold killer even 2 Divisions higher than where he should be.
Dear Scott, I am not sure what happened to Campbell when he fought Linares, but at the 17 seconds of this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZPqjR8KzlI, seems that some one put a banana peel under his shoes and he slipped, not so sure though
My bad (maybe), I could have sworn they said during the broadcast Campbell had never been down, so it could be on them. LOL!
Nah Mike, he got seated legit by a short compact shot. No slip there.
Campbell’s been knocked down by Yvan Mendy and Linares.
Everything in your post is correct except about Campbell never being knocked down. Campbell got dropped by Jorge Linares.
Luke was good but he has 6 inch reach advantage not a easy task for loma to be dominant
He had him hurt a couple of times and in last round Luke lifted his feet should of been a point deduction ( bad referring in 3 fights) but loma did the job well enough !
People keep saying Loma has to take risks, when he’s already in a division that guys are taller, longer, bigger than him. The man fights 2 weight divisions over the one he should be. If he was an African-American, the people who now doubt him would worship him with a passion? Why it’s always the black boxing fans who show no respect to no fighter who isn’t black? This is disgusting, no shit!
It’s because whites aren’t supposed to be good at fighting in the minds of non-whites and even some whites in this country. But, in Loma’s region of the world are the best fighters on earth. Russian and Eastern European fighters rule both boxing and MMA. P4P #1 boxer is a Ukrainian and p4p #1 MMA is a Chechen. Usyk and Gvozdyk will also reign in their divisions too. I’m sure that’ll drive the anti-white movement crazy then too, but it’s okay. We’re proud and that’s all that matters.
Chris Smith you would have thrived in the Nazi regime, it’s all about race with you and pro white rhetoric. All your posts are the same, Sad. Yes Eastern European boxers are good but to discourage US boxers like Spence, Crawford, Canelo just because they aren’t white? I can’t wait for Loma to fight some real competition.
Haha what are you talking about Chris, whites are the best fighters??? Name me one eastern European all-time great in boxing… I can name hundreds of blacks, Mexicans etc. There is no eastern European in any top 10 all-time list. You’re delusional and can’t accept the fact that others are superior over you, which is quite typical for a older white guy. It’s no secret why though. Do some sciences research about racial differences. And after that: accept it and move on with life. PS. I’m not racist. Just staring facts.
Eastern Europeans entered pro boxing in 90s, rethink your point about all greats
I really hate to tell you this, BUT, maybe you’ve been sleeping the past 20 years or so. From 160 lbs to hwt the guys that have controlled those divisions were Ukraines, Russians, etc. Perhaps you’ve heard the name Wlad, Vitali Klitschko? You do KNOW they ruled the hwts for 10 years, don’t you? Perhaps you’ve seen GGG control the 160 lbers like nobody else has since Hagler? Or perhaps you’ve missed the 175 lb domination for many years by Kovalev,and now Gvronik, Bettiev? BTW you’ve heard of Kostya Zoo at 140 Lbs, he ruled that division at a time when the best 140 lbers were in that division, or perhaps you’re to young to know the history of the game? You really think Tyson Fury is not the best hwt today, he put on a boxing clinic against Deontay Wilder. And i might ADD, I do not like this conversation, because i’ve seen and met most of the greats and I know without QUESTION how many super fighters there are from each race. Do you really think Floyd ever had an exciting fight besides Corrales? And it most certainly prolonged his career. Most of his fights were snorefests, and of course you figured he was P4P #1. So I will say this to you, if you REALLY think that only black fighters are great then I suggest to you, trying to open your eyes and let your non prejudice mind show you what is going on for the last 20 years.
I never said only black boxers are great. Don’t put words in my mouth please. But yes it’s true there have been plenty of good eastern European boxers.Wlad reigned in a era where there was no quality opposition. Lennox beat him and Lennox was way out of his prime. And ggg kovalev etc are no Mayweather or Paquiao. They are very good, but not great. Would they be as dominant, Lets say, 15years ago? No. My point still stands. They are nowhere to be found in the all-time great lists. Canelo beat ggg, Floyd toyed with canelo. There are levels to the game.
Canelo beat GGG, where, when and how? Funny how 85 % of fighters and people polled had GGG winning easily. Of course if you have Delaho buying judges you will always get any decision win. The 2nd fight had a majority of fighters and fans polled at more than 75% that thought GGG won the fight. Perhaps you only thought you saw the fight. Lennox did NOT beat Wlad, he beat Vitali, do you even know the difference ??? You mentioned he beat a limited division, MAYBE ,but that limited division was no more limited than who Tyson had in front of him, Joe Louis also had a very weak division, if you know who Joe Louis was. And i might add that that many champs in many divisions had limited opposition. Larry Holmes who might be the best hwt ever, also fought in a division of relatively soft opponents. You mention that GGG/Kovalev are no Mayweather, THANK GOD, because most people watching a Floyd fight usually fell asleep after the 6th round. You do remember his snorefests don’t you. Or maybe you don’t? How in the hell do you even remark on a boxing site, with such a limited understanding of the history of the game, do you even KNOW who has the best K.O pct of any hwts that ever lived lived? YEAH it’s those guys that you do not even know their names, Vitali,and Wlad. Go watch the Mayweather fights when he was manhandled by Ramirez and Maidona. And in truth DLH had the better of him in their fight. Funny how Mayweather NEVER fights anywhere but in Vegas. Wake up, there are no Holyfields or M.Tysons fighting anymore. And in fact only guys like Loma bring any excitement to this game. You do know that Spence even while beating up Garcia, could not stop him, so in essence where is he with his LIMITED OPPOSITION? Hold him to the same standard you want from Loma,which he has far exceeded everyone, in the sport today, or for that matter perhaps ever with the records he has brought forth. Go on and tell everyone he has fought limited opposition, Russell,Walters,RIGO LINARES limited opposition? And all by his 10th fight. YEAH OF COURSE. 🙂
Don’t forget Pretty Boy vs Castillo 1 and 2 (I had Castillo won the first fight), oh and Lennox beat Vitali yes, but it’s because the doctor stopped the fight and was ruled TKO after round 6. I was sooo pissed that night! Vitali was winning on the cards! Anyway good point Steve.
Boxing is one of the most controversial sports on the planet and only those who follow it closely and scratch beneath the surface will understand the real essence of it.
There is a world of difference between true greats and boxers with cherry picked and manipulated fights.
I don’t want to mention names, but as far as the specific names mentioned above by Steve Eagle, I can only agree. He clearly understands boxing history.
Thank you Stonefree/ Hendrix. 🙂
Yeah….its a Hendrix inspired name :))
It’s Marvelous Marvin Hagler. That’s his OFFICIAL name! Sugar isn’t part of Ray Charles Leonard’s Real name.
30+ years later and Marvelous Marvin still can’t get his respect.
I just returned from work, I saw only the last round. Campbell should’ve penalized for what he did in order to survive. For what I have learned, the fight was more or less the way I thought. I am not to sold to Lomachenko to the point to believe he is the best fighter. He is just a excellent fighter spending the leftovers of what he could have been, having he started his professional boxing career at the right time. IMO he is like a 45 fights fighter with his best days far behind, but still good enough to defeat decent opposition. At 31, I can’t see him reaching 20 wins, much less if he in an impudent move try to invade the 140 division. At 130 there are some good fights for him. Berchelt and Gervonta are two of them. I hope he uses the same ring IQ level, for his next step
Campbell showed heart, but Loma is another level, def one of top pound 4 pound.
Good fight and fair decision to the visitor, who says the UK doesnt give fair decisions unlike Fury/ Wilder s… decision.
It’s funny if LOMA does not make a man quit or knock his head off then all of a sudden he is not the number one fighter. I seem to remember several fights from a former P4P#1 that he got more than 2 gifted decision wins. Now it’s true that Campbell put up a hell of a fight, but was simply out classed by Loma. And it might also be that LOMA is just so much lighter than all of these lightweights and still beats them by a wide margin. Whatever way you figure it, this fighter still is the finest in todays era.
Steve, you know the anti-whites on here. Crawford became the instant p4p #1 to these people by beating Jeff Horn. A guy who just got KO’d by a clubfighter in the same round Crawford stopped him. Loma has the only resume in boxing by an active fighter not named Pacquiao that has soundly defeated 2 p4p entrants at the time he beat them. These morons keep harping on about the salido “loss” because they have nothing else. Crawford and clenelo have done shite compared to king Loma. If Loma was named tyrell and jose he would be the undisputed #1 p4p. FACT!!
Chris,When you make 4 P4P fighters quit, and you have less than 9 fights under your belt who has done that in boxing history? When you fight for world titles in your 2nd fight pro fight who has done that in boxing history? When you win world titles by your 6th fight who has done that? And when you rewrite the book by having a style that no one else can handle well you get my drift. Basically it’s a very small guy doing a number on bigger fighters, either making them quit or doing a number on them. Spence when he fought Garcia, beat Garcia every round, and with all his supposed power he still could not stop a much smaller man, and yet his name was mentioned by many as the top man. You know when Loma fought Rigo, most so called experts thought Rigo would shut him out, and Loma was avoiding Ringo, AFTERWARDS they cried Loma beat a smaller man. Yet LOMA did not want to fight Rigo because he felt Rigo brought nothing to the table that could make himself competitive. And after Loma blew out Linares in an incredible fight, still their were those that figured he does not belong at P4P #1. Personally I still have him at #1 and i’d like to see who in this game will beat him without cheating or being 40 lbs heavier than him. BTW Campbell put up a very good fight, but yet I.M.O only won 3 or 4 rounds, still he showed tremendous heart in that 11th round by getting up and fighting on.
Chris, I’m a big Loma fan, but color had nothing to do with it. I do think Loma is P4P #1, but it’s very close to Crawford. TC UNIFIED ALL 4 BELTS AT 140 in a time where that never happens. His walk through Jeff Horn while impressive considering Horn is basically a Middleweight certainly didnt make him top dog on anybody’s list…it was just another layer to his resume.
P4P has as much to do with the “eye test” as anything and both Loma and Crawford pass that with flying colors. Let’s call them 1 and 1A and drop the skin color.
lomachenko is just a very very speciall fighter.
Terrific fight between two excellent fighters, one of them an all-time great. Luke Campbell gave a great account of himself and didn’t fold when he was seriously hurt in the 5th round and in the 11th round. He was dangerous to the end and landed some hellacious body shots on Loma during the fight. He was defeated but not destroyed or discouraged.
Lomachenko had serious problems with Campbell’s height, reach and southpaw stance. He couldn’t make the same maneuvers that he typically does against an orthodox opponent, but he did the best he could against a good technician who could probably beat most of the lightweights out there.
I really believe Lomachenko is the best pound for pound fighter still active today. Crawford is a close second, but Lomachenko has much better footwork and is an artist in action. I just love watching him fight. Crawford switches from southpaw to orthodox seamlessly and adapts to whatever his opponent throws at him. Lomachenko is just a marvel and is in a class by himself. There is nobody that compares to him in the sport.
It was an exciting fight, although the fight cards were one-sided. Campbell still has a great future ahead of him and he will learn from this fight. I look forward to seeing Loma against the Commey-Lopez winner. I hope he moves down to his natural weight for any future fights after that. He fights best at that weight class and he freely admits that he moved up in weight just to get the belts.
Lomachenko should stop fighting at the weight class he is not belong.An elite fighter that doesn’t have weights problems shouldn’t fight at a higher weight class, because there is a tendency to struggling by facing bigger men, full fledged at that weight. In other words, the edge in skills and quality of boxing is eroded, shadowed by the lack of plenty dominance due to disadvantage in size and probably weight on fight nigh. Also, along the risk of losing a fight due to that, there is a chance to shorten the boxing career for being involved in unnecessary grueling fights, rather to be dominant by having full advantages when fighting in the right weight, with even smaller opponents sometimes. Look the difference when Lomachenko fought Russell Jr. Marriaga, Walter, Martinez, Rigondeaux and then his fights against Linares, Campbell and Pedraza.
What about him returning to 130 (I doubt he can make 126). I am very sure he will be the same that he was back then. I would recommend an offer to Berchelt to try.
130 One of the made up weight classes to have more champions and sanctioning fees. Lightweights were always 126-135 pounds.
Michael, Lightweights were never 126 lbers,that was always the Featherweights. And the lightweight limit was always 135 lbs, since the beginning of the Marquise of Queensberry rules, basically since John L Sullivan lost to James J Corbett.
Well, I enjoyed the good technical fight from two good fighters. Many close rounds but the deserving fighter won. Lomachenko was challenged by the height/reach and fighting another southpaw which took away many of his usual tactics.
These £4£ debates get silly. I like Hearn but I’m pretty sure that when Jacobs fought Canelo he said Canelo was number 1 and now (after Canelo beat Jacobs beyond dispute) he says Loma is 1. I sometimes think it’s just a gimmick for promoters to sell fights.
Anyway I’m glad Loma enjoyed his stay in the UK and wants to return. Usyk too. Both great fighters and great guys.
so he’ll go on to get the IBF belt and be one of the only current fighters, if there are others, to have all the belts. So how do the governing bodies then credit a fighter after a major feat like that – they start stripping belts off them for not doing mandatory defenses! Watch this space!
Of course he is P4P best at the moment. Name another fighter so successful after 15 fights. Who makes his opponents quit. Who entertains in his fights…… where are they???
Loma vs Terence Crawford at catchweight 140lbs/142lbs, please.
Loma is really a small guy, he is in truth a 126 pounder who fights 130-135 pounders because nobody at 126 has any chance in hell. If this guys frame could handle 140+ pounds you know he would be there. Imagine this guy if he was a hwt? Goodbye EVERYONE ,TIMBEEEEERRRRR.
Pacman is smaller 5’5 and makes it to 145! I believe Loma 5’7 could do it too no?
What makes the difference is the frame, not so much the height. Loma is small and prefers to fight at 130.
There were fighters who were even shorter than Loma but fighting at 140lbs, but they all had a powerful frame to move up that far, despite being short. Carlos Ortiz and Roberto Duran were 5’7″ and went up as far as middleweight (which had different weight limits in the early 70’s than today, if I remember correctly). When Duran fought at lightweight (135lbs), he was walking around at 185lbs between fights. Loma’s weight between fights may go up to 138lbs.