My Take on Vasyl Lomachenko, Post-Fight

VL didn't fight his fight. He didn't fight the way that made him the great amateur that he was.

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1. Lomachenko's instincts suppressed. Vasyl is predominantly a come forward, pressure fighter who happens to have good defence. It's Vasyl's game to press the action to and make it a brutal fight. By not going to the body and fighting on the inside, Vasyl was taking away one core of his gameplan. When Vasyl fought bigger people in the amateurs (he did for a few years because 126lbs was eradicated), he used to take the game to the inside a lot, his inside game is phenomenal. He fought the bigger Salido without utilising this aspect of Vasyl's game!
This is why we didn't get to see the notorious body puncher that knocked amateurs down, or out, with padded gloves from the amateurs.

2.Salido was thus able to get points on aggression, and body shots that do not land clean are mistakenly rewarded. The amateur judging system are very nazi when it comes to clean punches. Sometimes you throw punches with not the intention to land, but to slow the other mans pace, score points or just keep him at bay at times.

3. Lomachenko's defence and also his counter punching was expertly used in conjuction with his come forward, pressure style in the amateurs but not executed properly in this fight. It is this that made him a master of transitioning from offence to defence to offence and having unbelievable defence for a pressure fighter in the ams. What Lomachenko tried to do in this fight was predominantly be here instead is just that secondary style, but that secondary style is shaped in a way which belongs to Lomachenko's pressure style, not something to use on its own accord.
You'll see in the final round of Lomachenko's amateur bouts, Lomachenko 'protects his lead' with the style he used against Salido throughout most of the fight, it allowed Lomachenko to avoid being hit cleanly as often, in the amateurs, where point '2' wouldn't be rewarded in amateur scoring.

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1. Not pacing himself the way he always had done. What made Vasyl so special was that he would press the attack to discover how his opponent moves/reacts/what type of attack his opponent will be most vulnerable to etc. in the first round of amateur bouts, whilst landing punches wherever he finds openings. In the second round he would use the knowledge he gained and land an onslaught on his opponents. In the third round he would protect his lead.
Instead what we saw is Vasyl not pressing to discover Salido/anticipate Salido. We saw Lomachenko rigorously following a different gameplan.


2. If this was a 15 rounder, Lomachenko would have won the fight/stopped Salido We saw Lomachenko not throw anything of note and lose the fight because of this pacing strategy, and then when Lomachenko decided it was time to actually fight, he was doing to Salido what I expected him to. If he did this, especially early against Salido, then Lomachenko would have beaten Salido with much more relatively ease and maybe a TKO.


To conclude:
Not even Rigondeaux looked impressive when he didn't use his usual gameplan against Cordoba, so when he got knocked down he reverted back to how he used to be in the amateurs. Lomachenko would love to do this, but his game requires an understanding of pacing - which is a rather straight forward thing that he should learn unless he's going to be completely oblivious and hit a brick wall continuously and wonder why things aren't working.

Lomachenko IS the future, and even though he didn't fight as the Lomachenko I know him to be, he still in my opinion won the fight (Salido's 'body punches' were not landing in the way the commentators thought they were. I rewatched the fight in slow motion and it's something I notice in Lomachenko's fights that Lomachenko has a subtle defence.
So those body shots by Salido were not landing in the way people thought IMO, and inaffective aggression were wrongly deemed effective aggression on Salido.

To take a huge 147lb Salido, not someone like Gavin Rees, to a split decision in your second pro fight, without vital aspects of what makes you a great fighter, is saying something. Lomachenko's stamina and chin look impressive.

 

Thanks.

Lomachenko is a thinking fighter but that aspect was removed from him. When he has sorted the things I've mentioned, its actually going to be more lethal because he has more time to figure out his opponent and can set a range of traps rather than trying to do it all in 1 round. Now, this is something I expect to see down the line.

Lomachenko vs any of the top guys....I can't be so high on Loma until he has solved the things I was talking about in this thread. But as you know already I think he's a great, great fighter. Mares would have second thoughts about fighting him and Salido hasn't seen much of Lomachenko but it was enough to say he's a better pure boxer than Gamboa, JMM, Garcia and Guerrero.
It's a shame he didn't go to the body since round 1, Salido would have gassed out eventually and it would have been a TKO.

 

Fortunately for Lomachenko, he showed great signs in areas which we'd assess which make a good professional. Lomachenko seemed unharmed by Salido's punches, and his stamina also looks good.
It's a shame that some are writing him off as a 'euro-bum' etc. just judging from that performance.

 

Yes, I'm certainly aware although Lomachenko didn't face them with a 10 points must system. He needs to just throw some more combinations even if they don't land, it seems they'll be rewarded.

You are quite opinionated lol I wouldn't say it would have been easy work because of Salido's awkward, pressure style. I would also comment that due to the reasons stated on the thread starter, if Vasyl were to incorporate this, it would have been a LOT easier.

The WSB experience was over 5 rounds, not 12 rounds. But I have already addressed this by saying that Vasyl's style and approach will require a focus on pacing, it isn't going to be as simple as how Rigondeaux has it.

I'd personally vouch for the notion that it was deserved hype, simply because of how impressive he looked at amateurs. We're actually YET to see that version of Lomachenko in the pro ranks. That version of Lomachenko had most people (18/21 boxing experts) feeling Lomachenko would win, with many thinking it would be a KO or a convincing UD.

I wouldn't say they had no effect, Salido I feel is underrated as a puncher, he is a smart fighter who can break fighters down. However this gives testament evermore to Lomachenko's durability.

I was annoyed by all of the holding, I can't stand holding. Klitschko's fight with Povetkin gives me nightmares, although I would say I think that Lomachenko did deserve the fight because he obliterated a WBO International Featherweight Champion - the best version of Jose Ramirez (he is better than his record suggests) but the problem is, no one expected Lomachenko to be like a dead fish. I am not a fan of this undefeated record myth where you have to fight many bums unecessary.

As DrMo pointed out, Lomachenko is complete, developed as a fighter, other than what I mentioned there's nothing else for him to learn. Fighting bums will do him no good and it's not a culture that I agree with.

Lomachenko is your throwback great fighter, he'll be like Fidel LaBarba and take on the likes of Jimmy McLarnin in his 4th pro fight, and go on to have a great career.

Although I agree with those points you made :good This ultimately is the pros.
When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

 

I'm Gannicus, nice to meet you.

My formal position is what was stated in this thread. He is a star.

 

Yeah, I wouldn't say it was brain freeze on his own accord though, unfortunately he got all fundamentalist about sticking to the **** gameplan.


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P.S See you later guys, I said what I had to say about the Lomachenko fight, I'll come back only when there's extremely important news or fights that interest me (which are very few). In regards to Lomachenko, I'll give a pre-fight breakdown and post-fight take. Nothing in between. So I'm going to be a ridiculously inactive poster.