Vasyl Lomachenko
'the matrix'
Nation
Date of birth
february 17, 1988 (35 Years Old)
Height
5 ft 7 (170 cm)
Reach
65½ in (166 cm)
Wins
17
Losses
3
Ko's
11
vasyl lomachenko
'the matrix'
Nation
DATE OF BIRTH
february 17, 1988 (35 Years Old)
Height
5 FT 7 (170 CM)
REACH
65½ in (166 cm)
wins
17
Losses
3
ko's
11
Notable Opponents
Titles Won
WBO
world junior lightweight
WBO inter-continental lightweight
Titles Won
WBO
world junior lightweight
WBO inter-continental lightweight
Background
Vasyl Lomachenko is considered to have been one of the greatest amateurs in the existence of boxing, due to his vast and nigh-unbeatable record of 396 wins and 1 loss, and his numerous competition wins. Just some of his massive achievemnts include winning the Olympic Games twice, the World Championships twice and winning the European Championships as well as the Junior World Championships.
He further supplemented his amateur career with high-placed finishes, culminating in him winning several bronze and silver medals. His one loss – against Albert Seminov – was avenged twice through his amateur career, and his winning record has thus far not been close to being replicated ever since he turned professional in 2013.
Accomplishments
As a standout amateur with close to a 400 fights, Lomachenko was fast-tracked as a professional fighter and received title opportunities much earlier than the average debutant. In just his first fight, Lomachenko was made eligible to fight for the WBC International (Featherweight) title, and he subsequently impressed by dispatching his opponent by KO in the 4th round.
His next match was for a world title (WBO Featherweight) against Orlando Salido but his opponent’s relentless pressure and borderline dirty tactics proved to be too much for Lomachenko and despite his valiant efforts he succumbed to a split-decision loss in 2014.
He recovered almost instantly, and in his very next match – just 3 months after his first loss – he fought one of the top contenders of the division in Gary Russell Jr., which again was for the WBO Featherweight world title after it had been left vacant since before Salido and Lomachenko fought, as Salido had failed to make weight and despite his win over Lomachenko was therefore ineligible to win the title, thus leaving it vacant.
Lomachenko spent the next three matches defending his newly-won title before he moved up to Junior Lightweight. There he faced Román Martínez in a winning performance where he knocked his opponent out to seal the victory and win the WBO world title of the Junior Lightweight division.
Vasyl Lomachenko continued to defend his lone title as a Junior Lightweight, beating the legendary Bantamweight and Super Bantamweight former world champion Guillermo Rigondeaux by stoppage in his last match as a Junior Lightweight in 2017.
He once more moved up to Lightweight and settled down fairly quickly, debuting in the weight class with a win over then-champion Jorge Linares who he managed to stop late in the 10th round in 2018 to win the WBA (Super) and The Ring titles.
He added two more world titles to his collection by beating Jose Pedraza in December of 2018, and Luke Campbell in 2019 during just his fourth match as a Lightweight.
In 2020 Loma faced Teófimo López in a losing performance that ended up being scored as a unanimous decision win in favor of López.
He returned in the ring in 2021 to for two successive victories against highly-rated Lightweight combatants Masayoshi Nakatani and Richard Commey.
In 2022, Vasyl Lomachenko faced American prospect Jamaine Ortiz in a match where he edged out a hard-won fight by unanimous decision.
Lomachenko then faced the undisputed Lightweight champion of the division, Devin Haney, for all his titles on May 20th. The match was close and ended controversially when Haney was ruled as the winner by UD, culminating in Vasyl Lomachenko suffering his third career loss.
Boxing Style
Considered to be one of the greatest amateurs to have ever lived, Vasyl Lomachenko has earned a reputation as the most well-rounded and developed boxer around before he even became a professional. He fights as a Southpaw, and has shown to excel in nearly all of the basic and advanced techniques and principles of boxing. His key assets seem to be his speed (including his reaction speed), footwork and movement of both the body and head which has seeped into his defensive capabilities.
Despite his vast array of talent however, Lomachenko’s two career losses has identified some key weaknesses. Against Teófimo López he struggled against the younger American’s power, and against Orlando Salido he had some difficulties dealing with the relentlessness and dirtiness – not that this is something that is condoned. It is likely however, that his lack of experience played the most important part in his defeats given he fought Salido in a world title fight in just his second professional fight, and had never faced the likes of Teófimo López in just the fifteen matches he had prior to that.
Lomachenko has been ‘dubbed’ the Matrix due to aforementioned speed and body & head movement. He has notably been compared to the undefeated ‘boxer of the year’ Floyd Mayweather Jr. on many occasions, but these are not accurate comparisons given Lomachenko is much more offensively-minded and trained as opposed to Mayweather’s defensive mindset and ability. He has however, in a short span of time, proven to be somewhat of an enigma due to his success as both a professional and amateur and his willingness to throw himself in dangerous fights early on that proved to be a success.