1) First off and as an amateur boxing lover and fan let me say that in terms of career achievements Lomachenko is the 4th greatest amateur ever behind Laszlo Papp who's the G.O.A.T. any way you look at it, Teofilo Stevenson and Felix Savon. Now if we are talking in terms of boxing record and time span then Lomachenko is without a doubt the greatest amateur boxer in history. He pretty much achieved, what the 3 "big" ones achieved in nearly 15-20 years of amateur boxing, only inside 5 years. I think that if Lomachenko stayed in the amateurs he would become the first man to win 4 gold medals, possibly 5, depending how he aged.
2) I haven't watched a live boxing fight for the past 5 or 6 months (I think the last one was Sergiy Kovalev vs Ismail Sillakh) so I missed Lomachenko vs Salido too. I watched it later but I think it's not the same as watching it live, so I can't judge clearly here. However, I feel like your statement of him being "EXPOSED" is absurd not to say irrational. It could easily go either way, Salido fought blatantly dirty, and for such low blows he could easily get disqualified if he fought against a top name such as Mayweather, plus he was like what....148lbs on the night of the match? Still Lomachenko almost KO'd him at the end. I will agree though, Lomachenko's inexperience clearly showed in that fight. How? The fact he didn't let his hands go earlier in the fight fearing he would gas out during the later rounds shows how lack of experience can lead you to the wrong decisions. If he had let's say 8-10 fights before that fight and knew for a fact his cardio allows him to go 10-12 rounds then he would have KO'd Salido by the 6th or 7th round. Simple as that.
3) I don't know much about Garry Russell Jr. other than he was a top amateur in the US, however he never "showed up" in the big global amateur tournaments. The only time I have seen this kid fighting was back in the mid-2000's against Sergei Vodopyanov, a very good amateur who made Russell look bad, like REALLY BAD! And Sergei wasn't more experienced or older than Russell in that fight, I remember both of them being teenagers or something like that. Can't remember which world championships were, maybe 2007.
So I don't know what kind of development Russell had since then or what kind of adjustments he has done as a professional, so I can't talk really. I know that his speed won't be a factor against Lomachenko however, because Lomachenko (and remember this) might be the fastest European boxer you have ever seen.
Both are young lions, so we will see. May the best man wins ;)
BQ: As his fan and a believer I think that Lomachenko will fight a different fight this time. He will go for the KO early. I won't be shocked seeing Lomachenko stopping Russell in 4 or 5 rounds, but it all depends on what kind of chin Russell has. I don't think this fight will go the distance, I feel like Lomachenko will shock a lot of doubters this time around.
Hold your horses! Both Loma and Russell are still babe in the woods so to speak in the pros. Their fight is nothing more than a breakout fight for either of the two highly hyped prospects. They are even fighting the WBO title vacated by a true deserving champion in Mikey Garcia who is now titlist in the junior lightweight. The winner or both have yet to prove themselves against the more established guys in the highly loaded featherweight division as Jhonny Gonzales Abner Mares Nicholas Walters Nonito Donaire Evgeny Gradovich and Simpiwe Vetcheka. The division is so loaded with talents that a Super Eight tournament can be held to come up with one true universally recognized champion.
I am a big Russell fan. I first saw him when he was 16 in the Golden Gloves and believed then that he was special. That being said, he is the less proven of the 2, although he has had more pro bouts. The Salido fight proved Lomanchenko was world class. Russell has had no such opponent. If Russrell wins it will prove he is what I thought he was. I expect a great fight.
Or would there still be unanswered questions?
Lomanchenko is undoubtedly one of the greatest amateurs of all time if not the greatest but some say he was exposed in the pro game after failing to handle the inside game of Salido. If he were to beat Gary impressively does this show he has adapted to the pros or will it be dismissed as a win against an unproven hypejob?
Gary Russell Jr is talented but has faced poor opposition throughout his career. Now he is finally fighting for a world title against what seems to be a step up or is it? If Gary wins in impressive fashion would he get credit or would it be seen as just beating a failed professional fighter?
This is a interesting fight on another solid card, hopefully there are no injuries/postponements.
BQ: who wins?
