‘The Martix’ returns as Vasyl Lomachenko takes on Richard Commey in a fight that could very easily determine the next challenger for all of George Kamobos Jr’s belts. After lacklustre performances from Devin Haney and Geovonta Davis this past weekend, the door has been left wide open for someone to make a huge statement in the lightweight division this weekend.
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Vasyl Lomachenko
One of the pound for pound greats, Vasyl Lomachenko returns in his pursuit of recapturing his belts back. After an unprecedented rise to the top, Lomachenko became a three-weight world champion in just 12 professional bouts. With a background in Ukrainian dance, Lomachenko is the epitome of ‘hit and don’t get hit’ boxing. A phenomenal amateur record of 396-1 (not a typo) saw him hone his skills outside of the professional game and along the way, he picked up two Olympic gold medals in two different weight classes.
With wins over Guillermo Rigondeaux, Jorge Linares, Jose Pedraza, Anthony Crolla and fellow gold medalist, Luke Campbell on his record, Lomachenko was on a roll heading into his bout with Teofimo Lopez. Lopez shocked the world when he outpointed the Ukrainian 116-112, 119-109 and 117-11, taking the WBA (Regular), WBO and The Ring lightweight titles, as well as retaining the IBF belt.
Lomachenko has gone about regaining his belts in the correct way. Instead of getting an instant rematch, Lomachenko would go on to face the dangerous Masayoshi Nakatani. The Japanese fighter had only lost to Lopez previously and had a lot of confidence heading into the bout with Lomachenko. ‘The Matrix’ showed everyone that he’s still at the top of the lightweight division, however. Absolute domination from Lomachenko saw him TKO Nakatani in the ninth round. This set up the fight this weekend with the dangerous, Richard Commey.
Richard Commey
People tend to forget just how good Richard Commey is. With a record of 30-3, Commey could be the hardest hitting lightweight of all of the top contenders. Having only been finished once (by Lopez in the second round back in 2019), he’s only lost to the best. With back to back decision losses in 2016, Commey went on a tear, winning the IBF lightweight belt. Although he ran into Lopez, he bounced back in February of this year, dominating Jackson Marinez on his way to a sixth-round stoppage.
At 34, it will possibly be the last chance that the Ghanaian has to crack the top of the division. With his superior reach (71 inches in compassion to Lomachenko’s 65 inches), Commey must attempt to stay busy, pumping out the jab constantly in order to try and catch Lomachenko. He must try and throw fours and fives rather than ones and twos in order to catch Lomachenko, however, must then avoid Lomachenko’s counters. This is what makes the fight so tough for Commey.
Lightweight Picture
As we know now, George Kambosos Jr is the man at lightweight. The 20-0 Aussie upset Teofimo Lopez to capture the WBA (super), IBF, WBO and The Ring belts to become the hunted at lightweight. Devin Haney owns the WBC belt, however, it’s no hidden secret that Kambosos Jr is the man. Haney was gifted the WBC belt and never actually had to win it or beat a champion to be crowned. Having gone to decision in his last four bouts, it appears that there is more to come from Haney if he just put his foot on the gas more in fights. Coasting through this past weekend did him no favours as there isn’t a great pull for him to face Kambosos next.
Likewise with Geovonta Davis. Davis took on Issac Cruz and wasn’t able to get his late-notice opponent out of there. He could possibly be the most devastating puncher of all of the key players at lightweight, but his previous outside of the ring actions could possibly count him out of the reckoning.
With Ryan Garcia and Lopez still being in the picture as well as, the lightweight division is hot. The winner of Lomachenko and Commey could put themselves in pole position with a dominant, impressive win making this bout even bigger than before.
Details
- Date: Saturday, December 11th
- Time: 8pm ET/1am GMT
- Main event approx:11pm ET/4am GMT
- DAZN
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