Fighter of the Week (5/6-5/12): Vasyl Lomachenko
On what was an action-filled week that provided a front runner for the Fight of the Year on a Wednesday card. The biggest fight of the week certainly did not disappoint, and Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, Ukraine native "The Matrix" Vasyl Lomachenko, proved that he's still got it as he dominated former unified light world champion George Kambosos of New South Wales, Australia over 11 largely one-sided rounds that eventually ended with a brutal stoppage that moved the Ukrainians record to 18-3(2), picked up the vacant IBF lightweight strap and re-established himself as a premier 135 puts him back in position to challenge for a world title and earned Loma this week "Fighter of the Week Award."
Lomachenko traveled half away across the earth to become the first man to ever stop George Kambosos Jr and did so on his home turf to claim the vacant IBF belt. The Ukrainian dropped the Australian twice, and the second knockdown brought in the referee to wave off the scrap. However, the corner of Kambosos agreed and simultaneously chucked in the towel. The knockout was the cherry on top of the super dominant and impressive performance from the 36-year-old. Lomachenko was so dominant that the Compubox numbers showed an incredible 175-40 punch advantage for the Ukrainian. Those numbers were even more one sided when considering Lomachenko landed an incredible 105 landed power shots, compared to Kambosos 30. The win represented a complete bounce back from the controversial loss he suffered to Devin "The Dream" Haney, back in 2023, nearly a year to the day from the controversial loss.
At 36 years old, Lomachanko showed that he isn't done just yet and has plenty left in the gas tank. The two men who recently beat him, Haney and Lopez, have both moved up to 140. There are however a ton of opportunities and big fights left for Loma in the lightweight division. The biggest and best one would be with Shakur Stevenson, who is scheduled to fight in about six weeks. Additionally, there are a ton of other big-time names in the division, including a showdown with William Zepeda that would be a stylistic clash for the ages, or of course, the winner of Frank Martin and Tank Davis, which goes down next month would line up perfectly for "The Matrix". Whichever fight Loma inks next will be intriguing, and big money, and Loma will certainly have a shot in the fight given his latest performance.
