Vasiliy Lomachenko came back on Saturday night and showed why he is still one of the pound-for-pound best in the sport of boxing. The three-weight world champion knocked out Masayoshi Nakatani in the ninth round of a lightweight main event at The Theater at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.
Due to an accidental clash of heads in Round 1, Lomachenko (15-2, 11 KOs) faced some adversity, but it was pretty much the only issue he had with Nakatani (19-2, 13 KOs).
In the fifth round, Lomachenko dropped Nakatani with a left-right combination and with beating up Nakatani. The end came in the ninth round when Celestino Ruiz called an end to the action.
“I’m happy because I won,” Loma said after the fight. “All the strategies that we developed with my team {worked}. I reached all my goals. I won, and now I’m back on track.”
Lomachenko, 33, now wants to settle the score with the undisputed 135-pound champion, Teofimo Lopez, who beat him by unanimous decision last October. Loma started slow in that fight, but he still thought he should have gotten the nod.
“Everybody saw how I won this fight,” he said. “And everybody is waiting for the rematch {with Lopez}, so let’s make a rematch.
“He has a fight in the future with {George} Kambosos, but how about after, in the beginning of next year? December, January, February, I am waiting.”
Loma lost to Lopez, and that was pretty clear. However, things could be much different in the rematch, especially when you consider Loma had a shoulder injury entering that fight. The shoulder appears fine, and we’ll see if he gets the rematch with Lopez.
It’s a big fight, and a fight, according to Lopez’s father and trainer, Teofimo Lopez Sr, that his son is willing to do after Kambosos. Let’s hope it happens.
