Jorge Linares knocked down Vasyl Lomachenko. But in the end, it wasn’t enough.
In tonight’s big Lightweight world title fight, Vasyl Lomachenko got off the mat to take a hard fought win over Jorge Linares via 10th round KO. Official time was 2:08.
Some expected this to be a close, tough battle, and some expected it to be the other-worldly skill of Lomachenko wiping out yet another opponent. In the end, Lomachenko took the win, but it certainly wasn’t a wipe-out. Linares did an excellent job in the fight, taking multiple rounds and making it a close fight. Then, in round 6, he did the unthinkable and dropped Lomachenko with a perfect right hand down the middle. This was Lomachenko’s first ever knockdown of his pro career, and the first time he has looked human since his 2nd pro fight against Orlando Salido.
Lomachenko came back to bloody Linares up in round 8, re-establishing his control. Then, in round 10, he got his hands moving again before landing a brutal liver shot that dropped Linares. Linares struggled back to his feet, but was clearly in no shape to continue, and the referee wisely waved it off.
With that, Lomachenko becomes a three division world champion – the fastest path to that accomplishment in boxing history. He extends his record to 11-1 with 9 KOs. No one has gone the distance with him since his 4th pro fight. I can’t see how he is not the sport’s pound for pound king at this point.
Jorge Linares suffers his first loss since 2012, losing his WBA and Ring Lightweight titles in the process. He is now 44-4.
At the time of the stoppage, one judge had the fight for Lomachenko 86-84, one for Linares 86-84, and one even at 85-85. Our own Mookie Alexander had it 85-85. In his post-fight interview, Lomachenko said he would be fine with a rematch.
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