Loma Gets Tough, But Decisive Victory At MSG
The world doesn’t know just how dominant and how brilliant Vasiliy Lomanchenko is going to be on a fight-to-fight basis. Coming off right shoulder surgery, Lomanchenko wanted to put on a show for the New York City crowd.
Vasiliy Lomanchenko (12-1, 9 KOs) defeated Jose Pedraza (25-2, 12 KOs) by unanimous decision on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden to unify two lightweight title belts.
It may be looked at as a disappointment that on his own part that he didn’t finish a fight he very nearly did in the 11th round, but Lomanchenko walks away from New York City on Saturday with the WBA and WBO belts on his shoulders.
Lomanchenko used a violent and hellacious 11th round onslaught to drop Pedraza twice to the canvas. Pedraza took what seemed like 30 unanswered punches before falling to a knee for the first knockdown of the fight, then moments later falling to a body shot from Lomanchenko.
Before that, somewhat of a competitive fight was breaking out between the two lightweight world champions.
Lomanchenko — brilliantly fighting with pressure and range — tattooed the Puerto Rican Pedraza with jabs and hard straight lefts, who’s face gave way to the WBA champion’s shots early.
Pedraza did well in the opening rounds of crafting puzzles for Lomanchenko to solve, making himself a moving targeting constantly with his head as he leaned out of the way and kept his head off the center line. He often switched stances from southpaw to orthodox and back, creating further difficulty for “Hi-Tech” at times.
There were times when Lomanchenko looked entirely human, with Pedraza looking like a live dog in the later rounds after he put together solid rounds late, but not rounds that would allow him to win most of them to make the judges decision unclear.
His best moments of the fight happened when he made a commitment to the body while also avoiding the ropes, which allowed him to establish somewhat of a jab.
Lomanchenko blasted away with straight lefts and a steady jab as he pressured his opponent, wearing down a game and tough Pedraza who’s legs were all but unsteady by the end of the fight.
The biggest takeaway from this fight is that Lomanchenko didn’t finish his opponent, who he was expected to finish in sensational fashion.
Pedraza’s lone loss coming into tonight was a 7th-Round TKO stoppage against undefeated WBA junior lightweight champion Gervonta Davis.
While crafty and determined, Pedraza never quite was as close to pulling an upset as some may have thought as judges scored the fight wide for the Ukrainian.
Is their a kink in Lomanchenko’s armor? His only professional loss came when he was being low blowed throughout the fight by Orlando Salido and he had some difficulty in the first half of that fight of adjusting to Salido’s rough house tactics.
After that fight he went on to dominate top junior lightweights like Gary Russell Jr., Roman Martinez and Nicholas Walters before disposing of one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world in Guillermo Rigondeaux with a 6th-Round TKO stoppage victory.
Jorge Linares knocked down Vasiliy Lomanchenko with a straight right hand in the sixth round of their WBA lightweight title fight this past May, a personal low light for Lomanchenko as it marked the first knockdown of his career.
That knockdown was the most human we’ve seen an almost unstoppable Lomanchenko look since his split-decision in his second career fight to Orlando Salido, and tonight we saw moments where he looked unimpressive offensively vs. an opponent who took his shots better than most and was difficult to gage at times.
Vasiliy Lomanchenko, however, is winning most of these rounds and doing them so where there’s little controversy.
There was little gamesmanship or taunting on the part of Lomanchenko tonight, who got all he can handle from Jose Pedraza.
More fact than opinion, no one’s knocking down Bob Arum’s door to fight one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport, but maybe few are getting happy feet to do so in the near future.
What are your thoughts on the Vasiliy Lomanchenko’s victory on Saturday night? Leave your comments below!