Vasyl Lomachenko: The best fighter you've probably never heard of

Vasyl Lomachenko is so good, it’s almost like fans are taking him for granted after just six professional fights.

At a time when boxers with his professional experience are still 15, 20, even 25 fights away from going for their first world title, Lomachenko on Saturday will face Rocky Martinez at Madison Square Garden in a bid for his second championship.

Lomachenko, the two-time gold medalist who holds the WBO featherweight belt, will challenge for Martinez’s WBO junior lightweight title.

If that isn’t indicative of his extraordinary talent, perhaps this is: He was asked if he’d be willing to go up one more division to chase a lightweight title so that he would have titles in three weight divisions in 10 or fewer bouts.

“I’ve never thought about that, fighting as a 135-pounder,” he said. “That is actually a very good idea. Thank you for the tip and I will think about that after June 11.”

What is notable is that no one laughed it off as a stupid question and Lomachenko didn’t dismiss it out of hand. It’s entirely within the realm of possibility that it could happen, which speaks to the man’s prodigious talents.

Promoter Bob Arum said Lomachenko in his view is already the finest fighter in the world. Arum, of course, has a vested interest in that opinion, and supporters of elite talents like Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez, Gennady Golovkin and Andre Ward, among others, would dispute it.

That Lomachenko is even in the discussion, though, is remarkable in and of itself.

“The guy is incredible,” Arum said. “I’m a promoter so I guess I could be guilty of hyperbole, but this guy is technically the best I’ve ever seen. I have never seen a guy do what he does in the ring. Floyd [Mayweather] is a genius at distance. Floyd, the way he gauges distance is fantastic. This kid, he gauges distance like that, he has unbelievable balance and he can engage when he wants to in the course of a fight.”

What he hasn’t done is bring anyone out of their seats in his last few fights. He stopped Gamalier Rodriguez in the ninth round of the Mayweather-Pacquiao undercard. It was a mismatch going in and Lomachenko just fought patiently, racking up the rounds until there was the opportunity to go for the finish.

It was much the same in November when he stopped Romulo Koasicha in the 10th. The gap in talent between Lomachenko and Koasicha is immense, and so it would have been compelling to see him strike hard and not take so long.

Arum agreed that Lomachenko was worlds better than either fighter. He said, though, that Lomachenko had a reason for fighting the way he did.

“What he does is, he wants to show his complete arsenal,” Arum said. “There is nothing he can’t do, and he wants people to see that. Plus [going rounds] is a good way for him to practice his distance and balance instead. But he focuses on giving a complete performance, and he does, though the only two people who might appreciate that are his father and me.”

He’s an elite talent, but not close to a star yet. He is so smart in the ring and he knows he’s so much better than his opponents, he doesn’t take many risks and he simply waits for the inevitable mistake.

Martinez, though, is a legitimate champion and a quality opponent who may be able to bring the best out of him. Martinez is coming off a pair of sensational fights with Orlando Salido. Whether he’s in the same ballpark as Lomachenko talent-wise remains to be scene. But Martinez will get in there and fight.

It is an opportunity for a star-making performance for Lomachenko, though being a star in the traditional sense isn’t foremost on his mind, according to Arum.

“He wants to be a star, but not how you might think,” Arum said. “Probably the best way to explain it is that he is like a guy who is a great author who writes brilliant books. They may not be best sellers, but they’re superbly written. Literary people who follow those kinds of things would call him one of the great writers. Maybe he isn’t the greatest seller and he’s not like Stephen King just selling book after book after book, but that isn’t what he’s looking for.

“I think Lomachenko would love to get the recognition of the fact that he is great. Is he ever going to be this hugely marketable star? I doubt it. Maybe, but I doubt it. But he’s going to be one of those guys that the people who really know boxing, the true experts, they’ll talk about him for a long time.”