Vasiliy Lomachenko defeats José Pedraza to unify lightweight titles – as it happened
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That’s all for tonight. Thanks as always for following along with us and be sure to check back shortly for a full report.
“He’s a true warrior,” Lomachenko says of Pedraza. “He did a very good job. So I respect Pedraza and Pedraza’s team. Very good job.”
The three-division world champion, who improved to 11-1 as a professional, is asked who he’d like to fight next: Mikey Garcia is the answer. Makes sense. Lomachenko now holds the WBA and WBO titles at lightweight. Garcia holds the WBC title and owned the IBF strap until recently, when he vacated it by taking the Errol Spence Jr fight at Cowboys Stadium in March, which is already looking like the best fight of the spring.
Lomachenko has unified the WBO and WBA lightweight titles by a unanimous verdict. The ringside judges handed down scores of 119-107, 117-109 and 117-109. A bit steeper than our 116-110 but the correct decision.
Round 12
Lomachenko clearly wants a knockout. The blinding in-and-out movement, the hand speed: it’s just incredible Pedraza is still in the fight. And in the fight he is! A nice combination to the body by the Pedraza. But Lomachenko is on another level. He’s throwing more, he’s landing more. He looks like he could go another 12 rounds right now, picking his punches at will. This wasn’t Lomachenko’s best night. Far from it. But he’s about to win a lightweight title unification fight going away.
Into the championship rounds And Loma has Pedraza hurt early in the round! He’s hurt with a body shot! The crowd is on their feet and Loma is opening up to the head and bodyPedraza refuses to hold on! He’s not throwing back and will the referee stop it? Loma landing shots to the head and body. Oh my! Will the referee stop the fight? And eventually Pedraza falls to one knee, felled by a body shot. He beats the count. The referee seems satisfied and Loma is coming in for the kill. Extraordinary composure by Lomachenko and he’s opening up again. Pedraza down again! He’s up at nine and he’s saved by the bell! Oh wow!
Pedraza still in the fight. More than in the fight. He’s catching Lomachenko on the way in and landing a few hooks to the body in combination. He’s tagged Loma with an uppercut and I wonder if that’s hurt the smaller man. Lomachenko throwing more and landing more but he’s opened up and he’s taking a lot of punches. Well, how about this. A clear, compelling round for the underdog.
Lomachenko in control. He’s beating Pedraza to the punch and countering at will. Pedraza was delivering the fight of his life to even keep it close but Loma’s left hands are beginning to accumulate. Easy round for the Ukrainian.
Getting yelled at in my mentions for saying it’s close. But it’s close. Pedraza, still boxing as a southpaw, using his size well, landing the right hand over the top enough to make Lomachenko think about it here and there. But Lomachenko increasing his pace and finding his opponent’s measure and starting to land punches in combination. Ominous sign. Clear round for Lomachenko.
Another close, tactical round. No hugely significant punches either way. I think the Ukranian has done enough to win the round but it was a close one. This is a close fight.
Lomachenko is a bit more active here early in the sixth. More aggressive, throwing and landing more. Very measured, tactical fight. Loma has done enough to win the sixth but we’re wondering if it’s the right shoulder surgery that’s made him look less than his extraordinary norm or perhaps 135lbs is a bridge too far. Remember: he looked vulnerable in his May debut against Linares, suffering his first knockdown in a decade before roaring back for a late knockout.
Bit of a rudderless performance from Lomachenko so far and Pedraza is landing more shots, gaining confidence. He’s out-throwing and out-landing Loma, who was priced as a 50-1 favorite (!) by at least one sportsbook. Pedraza boxing nicely, slipping punches with deft head movement. He’s won that round!
Still more economical punch output from Lomachenko. Maybe he’s not totally recovered from his right shoulder surgery. Very interesting. Pedraza would be wise to pick up the pace here and put it to the test. Easy to say from the third row. Now Pedraza switches from orthodox to southpaw (which he’s been known to do) but Lomachenko lands a pair of straight lefts in the last 10 seconds, then misses with one that would have cracked Pedraza badly, and that might be enough to clinch the round. But it’s close! I’m nicking it to Pedraza. Even through four.
Pedraza is clearly slower than Lomachenko, but he’s been moving quite well to remain an elusive target and give Lomachenko pause. We’ll see how long he can keep it up. Lomachenko trying to ramp up the pressure but he’s staying with the straight left as he’s done all night. Not a single right hook from Lomachenko yet. Pedraza landing a few solid right hands and it looks as if he’s opened a small cut on Lomachenko’s left eye. Oh boy. Loma lands a sharp left, best punch of the round, but he’s giving Pedraza a lot of respect and I think the Puerto Rican has done enough to take the round.
Pedraza, aggressive from the bell, landing or nearly landing a few punches early but nothing that appears to even faze Lomachenko, who is stanking in the pocket taking his opponent’s measure. Lomachenko bursts forward and lands a sharp right-hand lead that draws an “Oooh!” from the crowd. Lomachenko just never out of position thanks to his impeccable footwork: the best in the sport. Pedraza swelling under his right eye. Loma wins the round quite easily and it’s the quite easily that’s notable given his incredibly low punch output. Could it be owing to his shoulder surgery? Not sure but something to keep an eye on. Regardless, two rounds to none for the pound-for-pound favorite.
“Lo-ma-chenk-o! Lo-ma-chenk-o!” chants as the bell rings. Not much happening in the opening minute as the fighters feel one another out. Pedraza lands a few straight punches through Lomachenko’s guard but nothing too significant. Lomachenko like a vipe ready to spring. He lets his hands go finally with a minute left in the frame, landing a few punches and the gap in hand speed is immediately evident. Loma lands a cracking right hook. He follows moments later with a counter left and a thudding body shot. The Ukrainian hardly threw a punch in the first round but he won it on our card.
Jimmy Lennon Jr is introducing the fighters. Pedraza first. Surprising volume of boos! The Loma fans were lying it wait, it seems. And now Lennon rattles off Lomachenko’s formidable resume and the noise only builds. Final instructions from the referee. More “Lo-ma! Lo-ma! chants. Seconds out. We’ll pick it up with round-by-round coverage from here.
Pedraza is first to the ring. He’s making his entrance to Una Noche En Borinquen/Aguilnaldo Navideno by the Boricuan singer Manny Manuel. Or is he? The song has been playing for nearly a minute and no sign of the WBO champion. Cold feet? Of course not. There’s the man and he’s through the ropes in a sleeveless black robe with gold trim. And now here comes Loma. Blue and yellow floodlights shooting around the theater, matching lasers flaring downward in the ring. The song is an instrumental. He’s entering from the back of the room, making the long walk down the stairs to the ring. “Lo-ma! Lo-ma!” they chant. It feels like a Lomachenko crowd, but not overly.
Increasingly restless crowd here at the Theater at Madison Square Garden. The 5,600-capacity room is practically full, most everyone on their feet. Lots of Ukrainian flags. Lots of Puerto Rican flags. A bit quiet, maybe. They’re playing a series of promotional videos on the video screens while everyone waits for the ESPN crew to go through their paces so we can have a fight. Anyone’s guess when the fighters will walk but it should happen in the next couple of minutes.
Mexico’s Emanuel Navarrete has defeated Ghana’s Isaac Dogboe by a unanimous decision for the WBO junior featherweight title. The ringside judges handed down scores of 116-112, 116-112 and 115-113. “Hearing those words was the culmination of a dream,” says Navarrete through a translator. “All that hard work I put into the gym, all that time I spent away from my family.”
Navarrete, who improves to 26-1 as a professional, says he injured his right hand in the second round, but there was no way that would stop him.
“At that point it wasn’t about boxing anymore,” the 23-year-old from Mexico City says. “It was about heart.”
Emanuel Navarrete, right, is the new WBO junior featherweight champion after beating Isaac Dogboe by a unanimous decision on Saturday night in New York. Photograph: Al Bello/Getty Images
We’ve just watched a highly entertaining WBO junior featherweight title fight between Isaac Dogboe and Emanuel Navarrete. Two-way action throughout between a pair of game contestants with formidable power. Have been away from press row intermittently doing a few interviews so I did not score it, but from what I saw Navarrete won a bulk of the early rounds before Dogboe came back strong in the second half. From the scattershot scores I’m hearing on press row the decision is going to be close. Crucially, Dogboe scored what clearly appeared to be a knockdown in the ninth round, but the referee ruled it a rabbit punch. Here’s hoping it doesn’t affect the outcome. Waiting on the official scores.
One more fight before the main event. Isaac Dogboe (20-0, 14 KOs) will make his second defense of the WBO junior featherweight title against Mexico’s Emanuel Navarrete (25-1, 22 KOs). Dogboe, a decorated amateur who represented Ghana at the London Olympics, solidified his place as one of Top Rank’s most fancied properties after roaring back to upset Jessie Magdaleno by 11th-round stoppage for the title in April and boasts a ledger that includes wins over Magdaleno, Hidenori Otake, Cesar Juarez and Javier Chacon. Navarrete, fighting for the first time on American soil, has finished his last eight fights inside the distance. Fireworks expected.
Hello and welcome to tonight’s lightweight title unification fight between Vasiliy Lomachenko and José Pedraza. It’s a chance to see the two-time Olympic gold medalist from Ukraine, widely regarded as boxing’s greatest active fighter regardless of weight, bolster his pound-for-pound credentials by adding Pedraza’s title at 135lbs to the lightweight strap he won from Jorge Linares in May.
The first of two televised undercard bouts has just concluded and if you blinked you missed it. The ascendent lightweight prospect Teófimo López, who competed for Honduras at the Rio Olympics, improved to 11-0 as a professional with a 44-second destruction of Mason Menard. A right hand over the top was the weapon of choice and it’s an instant knockout of the year candidate. López celebrated with a reverse backflip. The boy is one to watch.
Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing)
