Former two-weight world champion Vasiliy Lomachenko is special. His speed, his quickness, and his skill have forced many fighters to quit, and after only 11 fights, he has many calling him one of the pound-for-pound best in the sport of boxing.
Ask Guillermo Rigondeaux and Nicholas Walters, who many thought would beat Lomachenko, but the skill, the speed, and the quickness of Lomachenko were too much for both fighters. The pressure was so intense that both Walters and Rigondeaux quit on their stools.
“Well, I guess I’ll have to change my name to ‘No-Mas-chenko,'” Lomachenko said after beating Rigondeaux last December.
Now, Lomachenko(10-1, 8 KOs) is moving on up to 135 as he battles World Boxing Association (WBA) and Ring Magazine lightweight champion Jorge Linares(43-3, 27 KOs) on May 12 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
While Lomachenko likes to win, he does not like when fighters quit.
“It’s not good for me. It’s not good for boxing. Boxing, it’s a war,” Lomachenko said on Tuesday at his media workout. “It’s a very, very brutal sport, and if you come in the ring, then you need to be willing to die in the ring. If you can’t die, you’re out.”
Beating Linares will be a tall order for Lomachenko. Linares has not lost since 2012.
Can Loma force Linares to quit? We’ll see if the speed, quickness, and skill of Loma will make Linares quit on May 12.
Linares vs. Lomachenko will be televised live and exclusively at 8:00 p.m. ET on ESPN and ESPN Deportes, and undercard bouts will stream live on ESPN+, available through the ESPN App, beginning at 4:30 p.m. ET.