Ukrainian Top Boxer Lomachenko Loses All Titles To American Lopez

Ukraine’s most titled boxer, Vasyl Lomachenko, has lost all of his lightweight belts after suffering a defeat from American Teofimo Lopez at the MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas on Oct. 18.

Against all expectations, 23-year-old Lopez dethroned his more experienced 32-year-old opponent Lomachenko, widely regarded as one of the world’s best pound for pound boxers.

According to the judges’ unanimous decision, Lopez outboxed Lomachenko in most of the 12 rounds. The punch statistics showed that Lomachenko landed 141 of 321 punches, whie the winner was credited with 183 of 659.

Lomachenko, nicknamed Hi-Tech and The Matrix for exceptional speed and accuracy, was fighting to win his rival’s IBF (International Boxing Federation) belt and become the undisputed lightweight champion. Instead, he had to give up his WBA (World Boxing Association) Super, WBO (World Boxing Organization) and WBC (World Boxing Council) titles.

Lopez’s victory won him the crown of the first undisputed champion at 135 pounds in the four-belt era, proving his nickname, The Takeover, is no coincidence. He is also the youngest fighter to become a four-belt champion in only his second title fight.

“I’m thankful. I’m grateful. And each and every day, I take that in,” Lopez said after the match. “That’s what a true champion does. I find a way to win.”

Lomachenko, who left the ring immediately after the loss, disagreed with the judges, as he thought that at least the second half of the fight should have been in his favor.

“Definitely I am not agreeing with the scorecards,” he said.

But the boxer isn’t planning to appeal the result just yet. 

“I want to go home and review the fight,” he said. “I’ll talk to my promoter and manager. We will discuss everything and decide what to do next.”

Prior to the bout, Lopez had been undefeated in 15 professional fights, including 12 won by knockout.

Lomachenko had only lost one fight out of 15 professional ones, including 10 by knockout.

Although the two had the same number of professional matches, Lomachenko’s experience extends way beyond. As an amateur boxer, he only suffered one defeat in nearly 400 fights and won two gold Olympic medals for Ukraine.

As a professional boxer, Lomachenko made history by becoming the first fighter to win the world titles of three divisions in 12 bouts in 2018. He broke three all-time records for winning the featherweight, junior lightweight and lightweight titles in the fewest number of professional fights.