Former three-division world champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist Vasiliy Lomachenko (15-2, 11 KOs) scored a ninth round KO over Masayoshi Nakatani (19-2, 13 KOs) on Saturday night before a sell out crowd of 2,072 at Virgin Hotel Las Vegas. Rebounding from his loss to Teofimo Lopez last October, Loma took part Nakatani with technical skill. He knocked down Nakatani with a right hand in round five. Loma teed off in round six, but Nakatani withstood the onslaught. Nakatani’s right eye was almost closed after round seven. In round nine, Loma laughed a furious assault to batter Nakatani to a knee and end it. Time was 1:48.
“I’m happy because I won,” said Loma afterward. “All the strategies that we developed with my team {worked}. I reached all my goals. I won and now I’m back on track. Everybody saw how I won this fight, and everybody is waiting for the rematch {with Lopez}, so let’s make a rematch.
“He has a fight in the future with Kambosos, but how about after? In the beginning of next year. December, January, February? I am waiting. I’m happy about this if they are ready to give me a rematch after all I’ve done, after this fight. I am happy about this opportunity.”
Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum added, “In case there was any doubt, Lomachenko proved he is still one of the very best fighters in the world. He is healthy and ready to fight any of the lightweights.”
Great performance from Loma this should quite all the haters who doubted his shoulder injury .I think it’s in Teofimo s best interest not to give Loma the rematch because he will get his …… kicked . He’s still the top guy at 135 lbs without the belts .
Lopez will be looked like a Ducker in the Public Eye by hardcore fans…Not in his best interest i Believe..
Who want the Tank
I really don’t think teofimo beat Loma , in all honesty I saw a different fight that night . From round 1-6 teo couldn’t touch loma and Teo was very frustrated judges give Mayweather wins For that kind of tactics . Round 7-11 was a Loma . I think round 8 or 9 Loma almost took Teo out . And round 12 well that’s was all out and I’ll give Teo that one . But I would give a unanimous to Loma . But that’s my opinion, this is my opinion. !!
Vintage performance.. this version beats Teofimo.
Sublime performance. Poetic and devastating. Probably beats Teo if he starts early and is aggressive like he was here.
I thought I heard them say Lopez is vacationing in Italy with covid .. please verify ..if so he will turn into
Keith Thurman in a year time
They did say that. That is a bit strange.
he is kissing sloppy lip thurman right now..gay pride yall
Both this match and the fight that Brandt lost if they had gone to the score cards after lets say the 6th round in the the Lomo match, and the Brandt match after the 10th, perhaps after a while these matches clouild be stopped a little earlier. Patrice Jarman gave actually the courageous Japanese boxer two rounds, but one was the 8th, (strangely), the match could have ended certainly after 7, and the Brandt loss after 6. Boxers should not have to take such punishment that might cause future health problems. The Japanese boxers loss was was a little scary at the end.
this is combat sports if your they are that concerned then they honestly need to do something else all these early stoppages are partly whats ruining the sport you absolutley take out the “rocky” moments the “under dog” type fighter stand NO chance so fighters like Arturo Gatti, Diego Corrales, Aaron Pryor, and even Ali and so many more would NOT be who they are if they fought in todays times
Lomachenko is a great, gifted fighter, and a man of great character and substance, and he demonstrated this here in this fight. I believe him when he says that he wasn’t 100% when he fought Lopez. If there is a rematch, I overwhelmingly favor Lomachenko. He is the best.
“Great character and substance”. He made more excuses than a dude going to jail when he lost. That’s a sore loser.
Oh ooohhhh, Loma is back in action and on the hunt. I want to see Haney vs. Loma.
Loma will beat Lopez in the rematch and then yes he should fight Tank Davis then Haney then retire oh and IMO Tank Davis KOs Haney within 10
Looked great against this fighter, Lopez a different kind of beast though.., believe the outcome will be the same as the first fight with Lopez winning…for now, great fight for Loma….
Why that beast couldn’t ko the same Japanese?)
nah Lomas strategy in the 1st fight was arrogant giving up 6 rounds is just crazy but rounds 7-11 were dominated by Loma the only thing Lopez could do against Loma once he started fighting was play catch with his face now i did score the final rd for Lopez simply he showed more heart i thought but his lack of defense will be exposed in the rematch
Lopez went into Hiding…
When Loma can throw the right he is dangerous. Tonight’s Loma would have beaten Lopez.
Nope, Lopez got his number, Nakayama is slower.
rematch with Lopez,,, he should have fought more rounds the first time. instead of only about half of the fight. (although he did win more rounds than the judges scored for him)
Make the rematch and the winner gets Tank! #forgettherest
nakatani is basically an amateur with a strong chin. it was a forgone conclusion loma would win that fight. i expected nakatani to come up with a fight plan to neutralized loma’s movement, but instead he fought like he usually does…slow looping punches and bad footwork. the kind of thing that makes him a sitting duck for anybody with movement with technical skill. overall, this win did nothing to raise loma’s stock and it exposed all the flaws we already knew about loma. teo beats him worse than the first fight.
Well, this same Nakatani pushed the same Lopez to the brink, but got demolished by the pound-for-pound number 2 fighter in the world behind monster Inoue. If Loma had not have gone into the Lopez fight injured, he never would have lost.
All fighters have injuries to some point or another into a fight. That sounds like an excuse.
Teo couldn’t win this jap with TKO… This is a huge difference
The problem with Nakatani is that his chin is his defense. He has length, heart, and a good, strong motor, but his defense is non-existent. Not only will that NOT fly at the Loma-Lopez level, he might find himself with neurological issues later on in life. He takes far too many punches because he relies on his rock-hard chin.
lmao this is funny…. this is the same dude that took Lopez the distance in a very competitive fight and who stopped Felix Verdejo in his last fight so amatuer he is not but the simple fact that Loma dominated him broke him down and finished him should have you second guessing your predictions if not reply after the rematch with why Lopez lost lol
When has anyone come up with a game plan to neutralize Lomachenkos movement ? Why would you expect that from Nakatani , who you just called an amateur ?
Boy, if Teo is so great why couldn’t he KO the Japanese? Teo would get dismantled by Loma. Easily!
This proves that Loma is better with two arms.
Loma is definitely a legit threat to Teo or any of the other lightweight sensations, but enough with the shoulder injury excuse. If a fighter at this level is not 100%, then don’t fight, simple. Every athlete is going to have some injury to deal with. I won my semi-final NE Golden Gloves fight in 1997 and had the flu going in and almost pulled out, but didn’t, persevered, and went on to win the tournament the following week. The guy Loma fought was tailor made and he handled him accordingly, now he’s number 1 pound for pound? Fight Tank next Loma.
The problem is when you are injured during the fight. Should you stay in the ring and make the most of it or simply quit? Boxers in general do not like the idea of giving up.
I’m buying Loma’s explanation. He’s not a whiner.
Still, Teo is a very difficult opponent, and I’m not sure about the outcome, but it would be more exciting to watch such a fight between two fully prepared and healthy boxers.
I really want loma lopez rematch,loma wasnt right their last fight, make it happen
i think tiofimo lopez is afraid to face a healthy lomo, he should man up and fight lomo at once
lopez just got coveed again at the thought of that..
People styles make fights and Teofimo style will always give Loma trouble. Loma looked great in this fight cause his opponent’s style was better suited for him.
He should fight Tank. Tank should want to fight him.
5 Stars * * * * * for the awesome photo !
True
Paul D’
great performance Loma. impressive. He uses all the tools to take down opponents.
I remember Teo said before the loma fight during contract negotiations, Top Rank wrote him off as the loser and was told he’d be given a lesser deal for future fights. I believe Teo left Top Rank. Additionally, considering Loma made so many excuses after he lost I see Teo sticking it to both Top Rank & Loma by taking the win and holding it over their heads. The rematch will NEVER happen. Considering no-one is fighting each other move up in weight like Tank did. He has the size to go 140-147.
One of the greatest to ever lace a pair of gloves.. absolute legend..
I figured Loma would make easy work of Nakatani. Loma is one of the more talented fighters ive ever seen and Nakatani is one of the rawest fighters ive seen. Hopefully Lomas injuries are behind him and he’s 100% healthy. He still has a lot he can accomplish.
I still don’t know what to make of his fight with Lopez. Yes, Loma fought better over the second half of the fight but he didn’t do anything at all for the first 6 rounds. It was a close fight but Lopez was the winner. I could’ve seen a draw . Even the rounds Loma won were very close. I don’t think a rematch would be much different.
Loma lost because Lopez was by far the better man.Anyone who knows boxing and watched that fight has to come away with agreement of that decision.Can’t wait to see the better man do it again..The takeover will be complete.