By Daniel Gonzalez

London, England – Boxing fans have grown accustom to the consensus pound for pound king, Ukrainian boxer Vasiliy “The Matrix” Lomachenko (14-1, 10 KO) making his fights look easy.  However, this was not the case Saturday night at the O2 Arena in London.  English native, southpaw Luke Campbell (20-3, 16 KOs) frustrated the 3 division champion in the early rounds with his length and distance, but eventually Loma made the necessary adjustments on his way to winning the fight unanimously.  The three judges scored the bout 119-108 (Benoit Russel), 119-108 (Omar Mintun) and 118-109 (Jean Robert Laine).

The two time gold medalist and three division world champion Lomachenko put Campbell down in the 11th round, but Campbell was able to beat the count and survive the round.  It was a left hand to the body that seemed to hurt Campbell and cause him to hit the canvas. Loma battered the taller Campbell’s body in the championship rounds with short crisp digging lefts that seemed to take the will out of the Englishman.  So much so, that Campbell resorted to a wrestling takedown in 12th round to prevent the Ukrainian from finishing him after he was visibly hurt.

This win unified the vacant WBC lightweight title with the WBA and WBO titles that Lomachenko captured in his wins over Jorge Linares and Jose Pedraza.  The WBC title became vacant when Mikey Garcia elected to move up in weight.  The last remaining title that Lomachenko needs to be the undisputed lightweight champion is the IBF title, which is currently held by Ghana’s Richard Commey.  Commey is scheduled to fight Teofimo Lopez this December 14 in Madison Square Garden.  Loma made it clear that he would like to fight the winner of that fight and would like unify all of lightweight hardware.

After the fight, Bob Arum praised Lomachenko and said, “Loma is up there with Muhammad Ali, Marvin Hagler, Sugar Ray Leonard, Floyd Mayweather, Oscar De La Hoya, and Manny Paquiao.”  With only 15 professional fights, Loma has accomplished more than any other boxers in history at this early stage.  The 31 year old has has won titles at 126lbs, 130lbs and 135lbs and is destined at a shot to have all 4 belts at lightweight in early 2020.  Arum went on to say, “Obviously, we’re looking to win the fourth belt to unify the title.”

The next step for the special talent Lomachenko is clear.  Unification of the 4 lightweight belts seems inevitable.  The question is what will he do after that.  Intriguing matchups can be made with Gervonta “Tank” Davis, Mikey Garcia and Miguel Berchelt.  In boxing most boxers usually do not fight for a title until their 20th bout.  It will be interesting to see what “The Matrix” will accomplish by his 20th professional fight.

Daniel Gonzalez is a Senior Boxing Writer. Dan writes for many publications including Boxing Action Magazine, www.BoxingAction24.com and www.SideStepBoxing.com

Photo courtesy of Mark Robinson & Dave Thompson