With the lightweight scene becoming the most compelling in boxing, Vasiliy Lomachenko, perhaps the most gifted fighter of his generation, is at a crossroads.
One of two scenarios will unfold on Saturday night when he takes on Devin Haney for the undisputed world title in Las Vegas. Victory will silence those who suggest he is a fading force in the sport and show that even at 35 years of age, he remains a master at work.
Defeat could mark the end of a wonderful era while officially ushering in the new generation, one he will not be a part of.
Lomachenko has taken an extraordinary path through boxing. A sublime amateur career that saw him win Olympic gold in 2008 and 2012 demanded an instant impact in the professional ranks.
In unprecedented circumstances, he challenged for a world title in just his second fight, falling short against Orlando Salido before becoming featherweight world champion in fight no3, beating Gary Russell Jr for the vacant belt.
Since then, his combination of his remarkable ring intelligence, electric hand speed and balletic footwork has bewildered a staggering list of opponents on route to becoming a three-weight world champion. Among his greatest nights were the stoppage of former lightweight king Jorge Linares and his clinical destruction of Guillermo Rigondeaux, christening himself ‘No Mas-Chenko’ after making the dazed Cuban quit on his stool in 2017.
But one night in October 2020, Loma was made look human. In against a blistering new talent in Teofimo Lopez, he left things too late after one of his customary slow starts, failing to overturn his opponent’s early lead before falling to defeat on the judges’ scorecards. Lopez walked away with the unified lightweight titles.
Lomachenko has fought and won three times since then, stopping Masayoshi Nakatani before his comprehensive decision win over Richard Commey – on more than one occasion urging the Ghanaian’s corner to pull their man out as he picked him apart.
During that period, he withdrew from a proposed lightweight world title fight with George Kamobosos Jr to stay in Ukraine, with Haney instead going onto win the undisputed crown in his place.
The lightweight division is now a difference place with Lomachenko suddenly the old man of the division. Haney, who holds all the gold at 135lbs climbed to the summit with victory over Kambosos last June, defending the belts back in Australia four months later in simply dominant fashion.
While in their first fight he steadily gained control with his jab, shutting out and frustrating Kambosos, there was more ferocity in Haney’s work in the second meeting, punishing his opponent as he sought to open up the contest and leaving him a bloody mess by the final bell.
Haney is undisputed king at lightweight at the age of 25, the same age as another new superstar in Shakur Stevenson who could lie in wait for Saturday’s winner. Gervonta Davis is 28 with Ryan Garcia, 24, still firmly part of that picture despite his defeat to ‘Tank’ last month.
Lomachenko will hope to replicate what Floyd Mayweather Jr did in 2013 against Saul ‘Canelo Alvarez as the old veteran tamed the young lion with a boxing lesson.
Haney has vowed to send him into retirement on Saturday night. Despite having won everything in the sport, Lomachenko will feel he has something to prove to the new crop. He is not done yet.
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