Vasily Lomachenko Reclaims Lightweight Glory With Vintage Knockout Performance

Vasily Lomachenko (18-3, 12 KOs) captured the vacant IBF lightweight title with a vintage performance on Saturday night, stopping Australian star, George Kambosos Jr. (21-3, 10 KOs) in the eleventh rounding front of a packed house at the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia.

Kambosos tried his best, but his power shots against the hard-to-hit Lomachenko were ineffective. The former unified lightweight champion quickly fell behind early in the fight, then got discouraged and gave up on himself.

In the eleventh, Lomachenko knocked the bleeding Kambosos down twice with left-hand body shots. After the second knockdown. Kambosos’ team threw in the towel, and the fight was stopped at the 2:49 mark.

Arum’s Ambitions for Lomachenko vs. Shakur Stevenson

Lomachenko’s promoter Bob Arum said in an interview after the fight that he wants to put together a fight with his fighter, WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson next.

When Lomachenko was asked during the post-fight press conference about his thoughts on Gervonta Davis saying on social media that he wants to fight him next after his title defense against Frank Martin on June 15th, Arum quickly responded, and said that anyone can call out a person on social.

One got the impression from Arum’s comment that he’s not keen on matching Lomachenko against Tank Davis, and would prefer to set up a fight with Shakur Stevenson, whose contract with Top Rank expires on July 6th. If Lomachenko agrees to fight Shakur, he’ll likely extend his contract with Arum’s company.

Lomachenko Reflects on His Dominant Win

“I expected a little bit more. Everything he did, I was prepared for this. I needed to adjust round by round,” said Vasily Lomachenko at the post-fight press conference, talking about his 11th-round knockout win over George Kambosos Jr. on Saturday night.

“I felt good in the fight. I felt I could finish him. It wasn’t the goal, but this is a world championship. You need to finish strong. This is what I did,” said Lomachenko when asked if it was his goal to knockout Kambosos.

“It was a brilliant performance. Having seen his first professional fight, it was almost like turning back the clock because this was a vintage Loma performance. I really believe if he’s going to continue in the sport, he’s going to be even more dominant in the next few fights that he has,” said promoter Bob Arum about Lomachenko.