Vasyl Lomachenko Stops Nicholas Walters – Who’s Next?

By Jeffrey “Italian Medallion” Cellini

Last night in Las Vegas, NV, Vasyl Lomachenko,7-1, 5 KO’s successfully defended his WBO junior lightweight title when Nicholas Walters, 26-1-1, 21 KO’s was unable to continue after seven rounds. After the seventh round of their lopsided-contest, Walters told referee Tony Weeks that he did not want to continue.

“He’s a good fighter, really strong,” Lomachenko said. ”But he stood there and made it easy for me, then in the end he just quit.”

Lomachenko landed 114 of his 437 total punches (26.1%) in the fight as compared to Walters, who landed only 49 out of his 264 total punches (18.6%). The Ukrainian landed only 15.1% of his total jabs (36/238) and the Jamaican connected on only 10.4% of his total jabs (15/144). However, Lomachenko connected on 39.2% (78/199) of his power shots, whereas Walters only connected on 28.3% (34/120) of his power punches.

Lomachenko started to turn it on in the sixth, displaying superior technical skills and controlling the ring. By the end of the seventh, Lomachenko had the fans on their feet as he looked to finish the fight, landing a number of powerful combinations.

In the seventh and final round, the champion landed 30 of his punches as compared to the challenger who landed only five of his punches in the round. Walters said afterwards that he was hurt several times in the seventh round, and did not see the reasoning behind coming out again for the next round. ”He’s a great fighter,” Walters said. ”He’s very fast, a great puncher. He caught me with a hard shot to the temple.”

“In the beginning he was saying that he was a gladiator”, Lomachenko said,” he’s a warrior, he’s here to hurt people, he’s here to win. But after that, when he quit the fight, I don’t count him anymore. He’s [not] a fighter”.

Lomachenko, who is aiming to be the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, captured his first world title, the IBF featherweight crown, in just his third fight when he Gary Russell, JR. on June 21, 2014. That tied a record for the fewest fights needed to win a championship. He defended the belt three times before winning the junior lightweight title, earning his second title in as many weight classes.

Lomachenko now has a record of 6-1,4 KO’s in world title fights and is 3-1, 2 KO’s over current or former world champions.

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