By Jonathan Harris – 2018 is on the horizon, closely shutting the doors on an extraordinary full year of action-packed boxing. It seemed the best was left until last with a promising history-making fight that has been forecasted by boxing fans for a long time, which disappointingly didn’t hit the high bar of expectations set by the world. What we thought would be a masterclass of boxing, a phenomenon fight that would be a thing of beauty to the eye, turned out to not be love at first sight. In fact, it was a dominant showcase of skills for just one man, Vasyl Lomachenko.
Lomachenko took his nickname “hi-tech” to a new level by defeating the pound 4 pound great that is Rigondeaux, with ease and making him retire early on his stool at the end of the 6th, thus making him the 4th opponent in a row to throw in the towel.
The Rigondeaux camp claimed that a hand injury was the cause of them pulling out of the fight but many fans have suggested it was more a case of a broken heart than a broken hand. Almost Everything the Cuban threw at Lomachenko came up short and was answered with a flurry of punches that frustrated the normally defensive genius’s style when there was no plan B to fall back on.
Despite the fight being made at 130 pounds and Rigondeaux having to gain the extra weight to make the mark, the strategy that was executed so beautifully by Lomachenko would have produced the same outcome if made at a more reasonable catchweight.
As fans that have followed both fighters vigorously, we were all expecting fireworks and a technical mouth-watering bout, but instead, It was made to look like a training session for Lomachenko with his incredible ability to manipulate the physics of boxing.
So what does the future hold for the man who firmly clenched the boxing world and proved the hype following him is not to be taken lightly, boxing enthusiasts have gone crazy on social media after this weekend, questioning what the next move could be, some have suggested another fight at his current weight against Miguel Berchelt, some have even ambitiously suggested going after the unified champion Terence Crawford or even hastily talking of Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather coming out of retirement to try and dethrone the new matrix.
The More logical suggestions have been made of a swift move up in weight to face the undefeated American Mikey Garcia, talks about this fight were already appearing even before the fight was made with Rigondeaux this year, so the fight could definitely be made at some point in 2018.
One thing we know for sure is Lomachenko is on a steady path to becoming a future great. He may be the most complete fighter to ever lace up gloves with his unparalleled skills and dedication to the sport, especially if he can take his purity to high calibre opponents in the heavier weight divisions. Exciting times to follow for boxing fans!
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