In an impressive display of technical skills, two-time Olympic gold medalist Vasily Lomachenko (18-3, 12 KOs) secured an 11th-round knockout victory over former IBF/WBA/WBO lightweight champion George Kambosos Jr. (21-3, 10 KOs) to capture the vacant IBF 135-lb crown on Saturday night.
The fight took place at the RAC Arena on Sunday morning in Perth, Australia
Masterful Display of Skill and Strategy
The former three-division world champion Lomachenko utilized his footwork to dominate Kambosos, moving in and out to land pinpoint punches to the head and body. Kambosos found it difficult to land anything of substance and was afraid to go on the attack due to the shots he was getting caught with.
Lomachenko’s movement and ring generalship made things difficult for Kambosos to get his offense in gear, and he quickly fell behind.
Kambosos Jr. Struggles to Keep Up
Interestingly, Kambosos, 30, was hanging back on the ropes much of the time, letting Lomachenko initiate the attacks. Kambosos was trying to connect with single home run shots, hoping to get lucky, but it was a poor strategy because he wasn’t able to land enough hard shots to stay in the fight.
At the midpoint of the fight, Kambosos’ trainer told him to stop head-hunting and focus on Lomachenko’s body. When Kambosos did succeed at throwing body shots, Lomachenko would get energized and pay him back with short rapid-fire three-punch bursts.
In the eighth round, Kambosos’ right eye was cut from a clash of heads. The cut worsened as the rounds went on from the straight lefts the southpaw Lomachenko was hitting him with.
Kambosos came out aggressively in round nine, but he couldn’t get to Lomachenko who hammered him repeatedly with hard punches.
Knockout Blow Seals Lomachenko’s Victory
In the eleventh round, Lomachenko went for the finish after dropping Kambosos with a straight left to the head. The referee mistakenly ruled it a slip, but Lomachenko knew that Kambosos was hurt.
As soon as Kambosos got back up, Lomachenko went after him, sinking a hard left to the body that sent him down, wincing with pain. When the action resumed, Lomachenko nailed Kambosos with two lefts to the body, dropping him for the second time in the round and causing the referee to halt the contest. The time of the stoppage was at 2:49 of the round.
The victory for Lomachenko makes him the IBF lightweight champion. His next fight could be a unification against either Emanuel Navarrete if he captures the WBO belt on May 18th or WBA ‘regular’ champion Gervonta Davis, who said tonight on social media that he wants to fight Lomachenko next after his title defense against Frank Martin.
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