Vasyl Lomachenko successfully diffused and
out boxed big punching Nicholas Walters to retain his WBO super featherweight
title. Reminiscent of Roberto Duran’s actions against Ray Leonard all those
years ago, Walters quit on his stool at the end of the seventh round in a
disappointing and anti-climactic ending.
The opener started off extremely cagey with
both fighters trying to compute what the other was bringing to the table. In a
difficult round to score, it was Lomachenko who shaded it with the greater work
in the last thirty seconds of the session.
The second was similarly close. Walter’s threw
an uppercut up close, but it was Lomachenko’s boxing ability which allowed him
to land more scoring shots and win the round.
Walter’s best moment of the fight came in
round three as he landed a right uppercut to his opponent’s body followed by a
chopping right hand to the head. However, this was as good as it got for ‘’Axe
Man’’ as Lomachenko served to put on a boxing clinic from then on. He won the fourth
with greater inside work and the fifth by upping the tempo and letting his
hands go at range.
The Jamaican challenger was cutting a
frustrated figure by the time the fight entered the sixth round as he simply
could not get his attacks off, and was now eating a lot more punishment from
the elusive champion.
Lomachenko then stamped his authority on
the contest further by teeing off on Walters from all angels in the seventh.
Despite this assault, no one expected Walters to pull out of the fight at the
end of the round which did little credit to himself or the watching public.
For Lomachenko, the display reaffirms his
standing as one of the best fighters in the world today. The Ukrainian will go
onto bigger fights, with a possible blockbuster at 140lbs against living legend
Manny Pacquiao muted.
On the same night in Cardiff, Terry
Flanagan stopped Orlando Cruz in eight rounds to successfully defend his WBO
lightweight championship. In truth, the fight was not competitive as the
Mancunian dominated every round before the stoppage.
It was a disappointing display from Cruz
who was bidding to become the first openly gay boxer to win a world title. However,
he failed to commit himself to any attacks and struggled moving out of range as
Flanagan’s size came to the fore. The end came in the eighth when
Flanagan knocked his opponent down to the canvas twice, forcing the referee to
wave off the contest.
Flanagan will hope to be involved in bigger
fights next year with the likes of Crolla, Linares, Garcia or Zlatican all on
his wish list.
Article courtesy of Neel Khagram @behindthefight
www.behindthefight.com
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