Full Fight Report: Vasyl Lomachenko Stops Jorge Linares and Wins the Lightweight Championship
By Rich “Lite It Up” Lopez (In attendance)
It was an electric night at the Madison Square Garden and we witnessed a historic night. The question was “How good is Vasyl “Hi-Tech” Lomachenko?” He is perceived as one of the best boxers pound for pound in the sport today. He has been known as the matrix due to his superb skills and blinding speed along with power. However he was moving up in weight to challenge the WBA Lightweight Champion Jorge “El Nino de Oro” Linares. Was Lomachenko moving too much up in weight or is he in fact the real deal? We found out the answer and what a night it was.
Main Event: Vasyl Lomachenko 10-1, 8 KO’s of Ukraine Vs Jorge Linares 44-3, 27 KO’s of Venezuela for the WBA Lightweight and Lineal Championship.
This fight had excitement, drama, and a stoppage. Both fighters showed a great display of skills and competiveness. The fight started out with both fighters feeling each other out. Loma was coming forward but Linares was landing some good counter shots and did some good body work. It was a close round that I felt Linares won. As the 2nd round started, Linares pushed the pace and did some good body work on Loma. However, the action picked up and Loma came back with his own body shots and landed a nice uppercut. Linares was the busier fighter and won the 2nd round. In the 3rd round, Linares was more cautious and allowed Loma to pressure him. The round was close but the edge went to Loma in this one. For rounds 4 and 5, Loma started to get into his usual rhythm using his speed and lateral movement. He started to frustrate Linares and was landing his right hands. Linares started to back up too much and gave Loma too much respect. Linares tried to land his right hands but was unsuccessful. Round 6 was the turning point in the fight. Just as Loma was having his way again and was winning the round, he got a little over-confident. Loma was in the pocket and got dropped by a hard right hand by Linares with 30 seconds left of the round.
Loma got up and finished the round. A more confident Linares came out strong in the 7th round and applied the pressure. Loma was still in the pocket with Linares, but was more cautious this time. Linares went back to doing some good body work on Loma. As the fight could not get any better, Loma comes back in the 8th round and was busy again. Loma started to land his quick right hands again. Linares came back in the 9th round and landed a nice combination which included a left uppercut followed up by a right hand. For the 10th round, both fighters went at it with good exchanges and swung hard shots at each other. Out of the two fighters, Loma looked fresher of the two. Two minutes into the round, Loma landed a great combination and landed a beautiful left hook to the body that dropped Linares. Linares did get up but it was clear he was in pain and could not continue which forced the ref to stop the fight. Vasyl Lomachenko won by a TKO at 2:08 of the 10th round. Before the stoppage, the scorecards were even, which gives an indication of how close the fight was.
What a main event it was and both fighters deserve an applause. Loma had passed the test after a tough fight and faced adversity. He was dropped for the first time in his professional career but came back to win by stoppage. Loma is now a world champion in his 3rd weight class with a record of 11-1, 9 KO’s. Stopping Linares was an impressive victory and now Loma moves forward to being one of the best fighters period. I would love to see a Loma vs Mikey Garcia in the near future. As far as for Linares, we are not sure how much he has left but I would not mind seeing him again. He did put a great effort in this fight, unlike Loma’s past four victims, he did not quit in the fight.
The co-feature showcased the undefeated Carlos Adames 13-0, 11KO’s of New York by way of the Dominican Republic vs Alejandro Barrera 27-4, 17 KO’s of Monterrey, Mexico in a 10 round welterweight bout. This was Carlos Adames debut under the Top Rank banner and was an outstanding amateur boxer. He notably scored his biggest victory last year against the durable Carlos Molina. Barrera was brought in to test Adames, and Barrera only had been stopped by Errol Spence Jr prior. Adames got to a quick start and boxed well. He was the aggressor in the early rounds and was backing up Barrera. Adames showed speed but just threw power shots and did not set anything up with his jabs.
Adames was trying too hard to knockout Barrera, but Barrera was showing a good chin. Every time Adames would land something hard, Barrera would come back. The fight started to turn around in the 6th round, as Adames was showing fatigue and Barrera was landing good counter punches. Towards the late rounds, Barrera was also backing up Adames making him uncomfortable. In the 10th and final round, both fighters exchanged punches and they both were tired. Adames seemed more tired than Barrera, and Barrera finished strong in the round. The judges had it as followed: 97-93, 96-94, and 98-92 all for Adames earning him a unanimous decision. The fight was close and two of the scores were too one-sided in my opinion. Adames did ok for his debut with Top Rank but had a tough fight.
Undercard bouts:
Michael Conlan 6-0, 5 KO’s of Ireland, made his 7th appearance under the Top Rank and faced off with Ibon Larrinaga 10-1, 2 KO’s of Spain in an 8 round bout in the Featherweight division. This fight was uneventful, but Conlan did what he had to do. Unfortunately, Larrinaga didn’t want to fight, so this is no fault to Conlan who tried to make a fight out of it. Throughout the entire fight, Conlan just stalked his opponent and backed him up. Larrinaga’s goal obviously was to make it to distance. Only at one point of the fight in the 3rd round, Larrinaga opened up a little and landed a few shots, but that was brief. Conlan dominated the fight and tried for the knockout in the last round, but could not get it. Michael Conlan won by unanimous decision in a shut out with scores of 80-72 by the judges.
In the quickest fight of the night, Teofimo Lopez 8-0, 6KO’s faced off against Vitor Freitas 13-1, 7 KO’s of Brazil. This was an 8 rounder in the Lightweight division. Lopez, who represented Honduras in the 2016 Olympics, wasted no time and blasted out Freitas at 1:04 of the 1st round. Lopez seemed to land a right hand at the back of the ear of Freitas, which didn’t seem to land that hard, but Freitas could not continue. The brash 20 year old celebrated in victory with a dance followed by a flip and got cheers from the crowd. In the post-fight interview, Lopez stated he will become the World Champion by end of this year or next year.
In women’s action, Mikaela Mayer 4-0, 3 KO’s of Los Angeles, CA faced off with Baby Hansen 6-2-1, of New Zealand in a 6 rounder in the Lightweight division. Mayer represented the United States in the 2016 Olympic Games in the Lightweight division. The height of Mayer gave Hansen trouble in the fight and Hansen could not get in with her punches. Mayer did a great job using her distance and reach to her advantage. She continued her winning ways in a shut out by unanimous decision by scores of 60-54 in all three judges’ scorecards.
In the 2nd fight of night, Jamel “The Fighting Marine” Herring 16-2, 9 KO’s out of Coram, NY faced against Juan Pablo Sanchez 29-15, 14 KO’s of Mexico in an 8 rounder in the Lightweight division. Sanchez started off aggressively in the fight but was running into counter shots by Herring. Sanchez went to the body but always ate shots from Herring. Herring got a cut in the 3rd round due to a head-butt, but fought on. As the 4th round ended, Sanchez looked tired. Herring came out in the 5th round and landed a left hook that staggered Sanchez. Herring went for the kill, landing hooks to the head and body. The ref went ahead and stopped the fight preventing Sanchez from taking more punishment. Jamel Herring, the former U.S. Marine and 2012 U.S Olympian scored a TKO at 1:28 of the 5th round.
In the opening bout, Fazliddin Gaibnazarov 3-0, 1 KO of Uzbekistan faced off against Jesus Silveyra 8-2-2, 3 KO’s in a 6 round Lightweight bout. Gaibnazarov is a 2016 gold medal winner for Uzbekistan and made his 4th appearance under Top Rank. He looked powerful and put a beating on Silveyra. In the 4th round, Gaibnazarov landed two powerful left hooks that dropped Silveyra and the ref stopped the fight in the 4th round.
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