Vasyl Lomachenko suffered a defeat at the hands of Teofimo lopez back on October 17th 2020. Teofimo came in as a huge underdog against Lomachenko, who was arguably at the time the p4p best in the world. Having an amateur record of 396-1,being a two-time Olympic gold medallist and winning 13 title fights in a row in 3 divisions, you can evidently see why Teofimo was the underdog. However, at just 23 years old Teofimo Lopez managed to pull off the upset, now having the WBA,WBO,IBF and The Ring magazine belt. Leaving just the WBC belt which is currently with Devin Haney an undefeated prospect.
On average boxers usually retire at age 37, if Lomachenko follows this pattern it means he will most likely retire in just 4 years time. With age not being on Lomachenko’s side and additionally undergoing shoulder surgery after his defeat with Teofimo Lopez it will be difficult for Lomachenko to come back on top of the lightweight divison. However, Lomachenko isn’t foreign to making comebacks, after his controversial defeat to Orlando Salido in just his second pro bout, Lomachenko dominated 3 divisions and made the likes of Nicholas Walters, Jason Sosa, Miguel Marriaga and Guillermo Rigondeaux, 4 consecutive opponents quit.
On track for another comeback, Lomachenko made a statement with his first fight after his loss with Teofimo, dismantling Masayoshi Nakatani knocking him down twice and ending the battle with a 9th round stoppage. Masayoshi Nakatani was the perfect opponent for Lomachenko to prove why he is still regarded as one of the best in the lightweight division. Teofimo fought Nakatani back in 2019 on the 19th July however, struggled with the 5ft11 boxer going 12 rounds and winning by unanimous decision, Teofimo Lopez even stated during the post-fight interview that “From this point on we are fighting guys my height”. Although Teofimo Lopez stated that his performance against Masayoshi Nakatani was ‘horrible’ he still won by a large margin with two judges scoring it 118-110 and the last judge 119-109 in Lopez’s favour.
Lomachenko is essentially starting from scratch and with the lightweight division being stacked with new prospects on the horizon such as The 4 horsemen-Ryan Garcia, Teofimo Lopez, Gervonta Davis and Devin Haney, the task at hand won’t be easy for the 9 year veteran of the sport, but isn’t improbable for The Matrix.
Will Vasyl Lomachenko otherwise known as The Matrix due to his mesmerising footwork come back on top?