Two-time Olympic gold medalist “Loma” stopped local favorite George Kambosos in the 11th round of the fight in Perth.
Ukrainian boxing great Vasiliy Lomachenko has captured the International Boxing Federation (IBF) world lightweight title, putting in a supreme performance to stop Australian George Kambosos in the 11th round in Perth.
In Sunday’s sold-out 15,000-capacity main event at the RAC Arena, heavy favorite Lomachenko defied the raucous home crowd and dominated throughout.
“Loma,” as the two-time Olympic gold medalist is known, largely dominated the confrontation while Kambosos struggled to land his punches and hit the deck in the 11th round.
Lomachenko left the Australian bloodied and sealed the 135-pound belt after dropping Kambosos several times in the 11th round before the referee stopped the fight.
“My plan was to adapt to my opponent,” Lomachenko, who is in the twilight of his career, said after the fight.
“That’s what I did during the fight. Towards the end of the laps I had to finish strong. Over the last three laps I was trying to find his body.
It was the first IBF lightweight belt in the distinguished career of the former World Boxing Association (WBA) and World Boxing Council (WBC) lightweight champion, who also won world titles at weight featherweight and super featherweight.
“I am world champion again. I want to come home and spend time with my family,” said the 36-year-old, who remains coy about his future.
“One of the best of all time”
Kambosos, a former champion, was unable to replicate the form of his famous upset over Teofimo Lopez in 2021 at Madison Square Garden. His pre-fight taunts about sending Lomachenko into retirement fell flat.
“He is one of the best of all time. We did our best, but he is a real champion,” said Kambosos, defeated for the third time in 24 fights.
” I gave everything. I gave everything during my training camp.
Both fighters had something to prove after losing to American Devin Haney in recent years.
Kambosos, who walked his ring to Eminem’s song Till I Collapse, had to rely on his formidable striking and size advantage.
He came out aggressively and attacked the body of Lomachenko, who is an unusually slow starter at times.
Lomachenko stormed back into the contest with blazing foot speed and counter punches.
The brash Kambosos remained unfazed and taunted Lomachenko after exchanging a series of heavy blows to end the third round.
Controversy under the map
The partisan crowd was right behind the Australian, but the southpaw Lomachenko stepped up the intensity in the middle rounds and landed several stinging left-handed shots that rocked his opponent.
Lomachenko tightened his grip on the fight in the later rounds, with several hard punches from the southpaw leaving Kambosos with blood pouring from his right eye.
Lomachenko thought he had knocked down Kambosos in the 11th, although it was ruled an error, but a vicious body shot dropped the Australian for an eight count.
Several more fierce blows prompted the referee to stop the fight after Kambosos fell to his knees in his own corner, moments before the towel arrived from Kambosos’ trainer.
The showdown had been a long time coming, with plans falling through in 2019 before a fight three years later was scuppered when Lomachenko returned home to his family due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In the two world title fights on the undercard, Mexican Pedro Guevara defeated Australian Andrew Moloney with a controversial split decision to claim the WBC interim super flyweight belt.
The aggrieved Moloney, a former champion who fought through a torn biceps, announced his retirement immediately after the fight.
“I’m done with this sport. This is the last time you will see me,” the 33-year-old said.
Australian Cherneka Johnson stripped England’s Nina Hughes of her WBA women’s bantamweight belt after winning the 10-round battle in a majority decision.
There was confusion after the ring announcer initially awarded the victory to Hughes after misreading the scores.
News Source : www.aljazeera.com
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