and he didnt start lifting weights until last year, and only recently back in 2018 learned how to box.
These clowns can only grasp at straws when they try to find fault in Loma’s elite skills. The “Salido doe...” defense js their only hope. They always skip the fact that it was his second fight, Salido was allowed to hit low all night and made no attempt to make weight. Never mind the fact that Loma nearly had Salido out in the late rounds and probably deserved the decision. It’s just evidence of how great Loma really is. The Loma haters are grasping at straws and it’s hilarious to watch.
Loma is a level or two above him, imo. I dont think Usyk is that close to him actually. If he beats one of the top heavies in impressive fashion I'll change my mind though.
Salido didn't make weight and outweighed Loma by who knows how much on fight night. Loma took the fight as he didn't want to waste his effort training. Apart from the blatant refereeing that allowed Salido to low blow Loma enough to get disqualified at least 5 times, Loma still almost KOed Salido but was once again held back by the ref. Usyk at HW is like Loma at 135. 140 for Loma would be equivalent to Usyk fighting at a division above HW, but because that division doesn't exist Usyk's jump appears much bigger. Loma can still comfortably make 126. There's a reason he doesn't bulk up like the other weight jumpers - PEDS, IE he doesn't take them. Usyk and Loma have many similarities: southpaw, great footwork, cerebral, methodically break down opponents, Ukrainian.
Question... do you think Loma was as good as he is now, at the time he fought Salido? You think having years of professional fights, training camps and overall pro experience hasnt improved him?
Lets just say he learnt more about professional boxing in a loss vs. a 41-12-2 guy than he ever thought he could after 450 amateur wins, a little lesson in humility certainly helped. Still, no evidence of improvement vs. that style and say having to face a 135 lbs multi-range Crawford I'd have no problem foreseeing the 2nd Lomachenko loss. But to stay on topic, question: do you fancy Loma's (Spence, WW Crawford etc.) or Usyk's chances vs. much larger opposition (Wilder, Ruiz etc.)?
So... was that a yes... or a no. Was that peak Loma or did he go on to improve? A simple yes or no, in terms of him becoming a better professional fighter as the years passed. .... To answer your question... I give Usyk more of a chance against the top heavies. And thats entirely due to rating Spence and Crawford much higher p4p than I do AJ Ruiz and Fury, combined with the lower weights having a completely different scalability than heavyweights do. Its the same reason a 20lb difference at heavyweight can often be negligible, while it will almost always be a major factor below light heavy. The size difference in scalability in the lower weights and at heavyweight are apples and oranges. Its literally why they have weight divisions every half a dozen lbs in the lower weights with the gaps getting larger and larger as the weights increase. So when I combine that with the fact I rate Spence and Crawford over Wilder and AJ... yes, of course I think Usyk should perform better. Has nothing to do with me thinking hes more skilled than Loma.
Not close. He is a plodder by comparison. Technically sound but nowhere near the speed, movement, or explosiveness.
Loma's far more skilled, but then again he's the smaller guy, that usually is the case. How many heavyweight Mayweathers have you seen?