I am not buying the Lomachenko hype (poll added!)

Not sure what there isn't to buy into. A resume like that in 10 fights is ridiculous. He had one competitive fight, which he lost but it was close and his 2nd fight. He's visibly adapted more to the pro game since then. Marriaga is decent, he ran Oscar V pretty close and he got made to look a complete novice at the weekend. If you can't be sold on someone until they beat someone with the size advantage that Mikey would have over Loma then **** man you're never going to be sold on a fighter ever. The media hype machine might be pumping a little hard at times but that's marketing, you can still consider someone an amazing fighter even if you consider it less so than the media say

 

Obviously talented beyond measure but when will he actually be put to the test? To be fair he dealt handily with GRJ and Walters but going forward when will he fight a beast?

 

One thing I absolutely despise about Loma fans bringing up "10" fights, is that it's not brought up without context. Lomachenko is 30 years old. Yes within 10 fights, what he's done is still impressive. But it's not even remotely close to as impressive if he did this as an 18 year old. As a 30 year old his resume is on the better end of this ERA of boxing, but it's not some "ridiculous resume".

 

Lomo is very good but the opening post is correct to whatever level of criticism or skepticism there should be.

Pound for Pound top 3... not yet.

 

Well, yeah that goes for literally every fighter in boxing lol. For 10 fights it's an impressive resume (as you just said yourself). My reason for calling it ridiculous is that I don't see anyone else being able to match those accomplishments after 10 fights. Maybe Mikhail Aloyan will come close given how quickly he's being pushed but I don't see him making someone with the quality of Walters straight up quit.

What would he need to add for his resume to be ridiculous to you? A W over Mikey or maybe a few more fights of that ilk? Just hope he's kept fighting regularly to be honest

 

It depends on what ridiculous means to you. As a 30 year old his resume is very good in this era. But it's not something that would put him in the HOF. His best win by far is GRJ, Walters came off a year lay-off and his best wins were career flyweights. Forget 10 fights, just look at his resume as a whole, do you think Crawford's resume is ridiculous? I don't think it is, yet they're the same age, and I think his resume overall is better too, though he's obviously had far more fights.

For me to say someone's resume is "ridiculous" for active fighters, it has to be something like a Ward type resume. Pacquiao and Mayweather obviously too if you consider them active fighters..

Btw I think if Rigo fought the same quality of opposition when he first became pro, he would've been 10-0. Obviously it's harder for him since his style is not as pleasing and Bob wasn't willing to pay these guys big $$ like he's doing with Loma to get in the ring with him.

 

He turned 29 in Feb, not that it changes much. I think Crawford's resume is very decent but like you said with way more fights. I don't think 29 is so old at this stage that it reflects negatively on the 10 fights. What it does maybe suggest is that more of these guys with top AM backgrounds she be getting pushed WAY quicker than they are, which is something I'd agree with.

No doubt, it's a shame Frampton went running from Rigo. I don't know how it works behind the scenes, but more than names Rigo just needs activity. I'm a big believer in that activity presupposes marketability (when you're not already a top tier seller). I don't even think Rigo's style is that bad it's just usually the opp wants to be as far away as possible once they feel his power

 

Oh **** you're right, for whatever reason i thought him and Crawford were both 30. But yeah 1 year isn't really going to change what I mean. I mean Inoue won 2 belts within 8 fights at like age 22? I don't find that "ridiculous" either. Even though he was only 21 or 22 and did it in 8 fights. To me to find stuff ridiculous quality is probably the most key. Now if Inoue beat Chocolatito, Estrada, Cuadaras to get those titles then I'd be extremely impressed. At age 29 Loma has a very decent resume, but I can't call it ridiculous because he's only had 10 fights. Now his resume is obviously better than inoue's so, and even though he never beat a quality of opponent like I mentioned besides maybe GRJ(though we obviously have to see him prove it), it would be enough at age 22 to be like damn, this dude is ridiculous beating veterans at age 22 within 10th fights to become a 2 weight champ.

 

Yeah, that's very fair actually. Point well made.

 

All that being said, I do think his resume is good enough where you can say he's p4p #1 on my list. I mean he's p4p #1 alongside Crawford for me, though I'm sure a lot of people would highly disagree with this. The 10 fight thing has just really annoyed me.

 

Just wanted to address this commonly stated point. P4P is nothing more than a subjective ranking of who people believe to be the best fighters in the world regardless of size. Full stop. Some people base their list on raw skills and talent. Others on pure accomplishments. Most on some individually decided balance of the two. Saying P4P rankings are not based on skills is a bad position to build an argument upon.

 

It was earned enough because:
1. He is seen as the greatest amateur boxer of all time
2. He was 6-0 in semi-pro WSB. They are no different to the current amateur scene, same rules, same opponents, just 2 more rounds.
3. He was the WBO International Champion going into his second pro fight.
4. He demolished the WBO International Champion.

For special, once in 25 year talents, concessions should be made for those who want it IMO. Everyone else below Jose Ramirez would've been too light of a touch for a man clearly so talented.

He was 404-2 after the Salido loss, not 397-2.

It is an excellent achievement especially given Loma's style. His amateur style was heavily dependent on pacing strategy, without it, he's not the same. He just needed that adjusted. It wasn't adjusted when he fought Salido, and hadn't completely adjusted either when he schooled Russell Jr.

This is all taken for granted often for biased reasons. Take Zhou Shiming, same sort of age. Why isn't he expected to win world titles, dominate and be around the top of the P4P list after 10 pro fights? After all, he's a GOAT level amateur too. It's because there are factors in his style that need work on.
Well if we can be accepting of Zhou having adjustment issues, then why can't we be accepting of the fact that Loma won the world title in his third pro fight, whilst dealing with his own adjustment issues? That is the punch line.

I believe he had only adjusted properly post-Gamalier Rodriguez, although a rematch with Salido can teach him any flaws in his residual pacing strategy errors.

 

Agreed somewhat, it's definitely not a foregone conclusion and it's the reason i want to see Loma-Garcia/Rigo/Crawford, etc. But to me so far the hype is real. You shouldn't be able to school guys like Rocky Martinez and Nicholas Walters in your 6th/7th fight, but he did it with ease and it's impressive.

 

How many rounds does that equate to?