Lomachenko was the top ranked sfw for 2 years from 2016 to 2018. He picked a title belt up by completely out classing Roman Martinez, the man who had controversially defeated Lomachenko victor, Orlando Salido. He then completely outclassed Nicolas Walters in a one sided drubbing against the man who had destroyed Donaire and Darchinyan and had taken Jason Sosa to school. Sosa then went on to pick a belt up himself and in a unification fight, Lomachenko completely outclassed his opponent once more. Next was a poor choice of opponent in Miguel Marriagi, perhaps it was a mandatory, I'm not sure. What followed was the marquee victory of his reign. Rigondeaux had been the SBW champion since 2013 and even though he was stepping up in weight, it was a hotly anticipated bout between two amateur legends. The fight itself was one sided, just as the rest of his reign was. All of his fights are readily available on YouTube. He since moved up to LW where he's unified 3 belts, knocking down everyone he's faced. As a SFW Lomachenko stopped everyone he fought. And that includes a top 5 ranked fighter, 3 top ten opponents and a SBW world champion. He never looked small, imo, as a SFW but it could be argued he didn't face the best in his division (arguably Berchelt and Davis). But did he do enough to convince people he's one of the best to ever wrap up the gloves as a 130 pound fighter. Which names through history would you favour to beat him at the 130 pound limit? The division has seen greats such as Mayweather, Pacquiao, Arguello, Chacon, Kid Chocolate, Sandy Saddler, JMM, MAB, EM, Julio Cesar Chavez, Nelson, Fenech, Hector Camacho, Kuniaki Shibata, Elorde and of course the unforgettable Wilfredo Gomez. What say you classic forum?
PBF, JMM, ETM, JCC, TMM, APN and Pac, for sure. I think Floyd's longer arms, quicker feet and crisp counter-punching is perfect for dissecting aggressive southpaws like Loma. Márquez's straight right, double uppercuts and accurate combinations is also perfect for dealing with Loma's style IMO. Same with Arguello. Chavez is gonna bring heat that Salido could only dream of, and Loma is gonna fold. Pacquiao just has too much firepower IMO, he lands it clean and Loma sleeps. I think Nelson beats him too, but that's basically a 50/50. Fenech has the perfect style for beating him, but his stay at 130 was really short, and he looked awful there for most of it. I'd pick Jeff of the first Nelson fight to beat Loma, though. Guys like Saddler, Laguna, Camacho and Elorde are down to what Loma does. If he's stupid vs Saddler, he sleeps, but if he replicates what Elorde did I think he wins. He'd have to be absolutely perfect to beat Elorde and Camacho with pressure IMO, since both were soooooooo good.
The interesting thing with Floyd is he's never really been in against someone who can make him miss the way Lomachenko can, so I struggle picturing the fight in my minds eye. Although I see an awful lot of jabs to the body. Marquez, people always say he had the perfect style to beat Pac, but I think it works both ways. Both guys constantly gave each other fits. But I wonder if JMM has fast enough feet to deal with the angles of Loma, he dealt with Pac so maybe. Arguello definitely doesn't have fast enough feet, however we don't know how Lomachenko would respond to getting tagged with someone who has the power of Arguello, my head says Arguello come from behind ko, but I'm not 100% sold he would get the ko. Chavez I agree. You can't really stop a pressure fighter at his ideal weight if he's at that elite level, you're only hope is to one bomb him. As for Elorde, he's so hard to judge. He spent half his career as a kid being bullied by lightweights. Then spent half his career as a man being champion of the world. Sometimes I really don't know what to make of him.
Yeah, Loma would probably be Floyd's best opponent. I think Floyd wins pretty handedly though, he's a combination of better and a bad style match up. Márquez is interesting, since I'm firmly in the camp he's a very good fighter with a perfect style for a great fighter. Ala Norton with Ali, or Forrest with Mosley, or DeJesús with Duran ect. Juan truly was an amazing combination AND counter-puncher, and I think he has the versatility in his punch selection to beat Loma. Vasyl dips a lot to his right, and lowers his head into a position where a quick 45° uppercut could really do damage. I think Márquez is a better in-fighter too. Arguello is awful for Loma IMO. Imagine if ETM landed that right which Linares did. I think Loma is definitely gonna go at Alexis, due to the reach difference, and walking into one of Arguello's punches is an inevitability, and I don't think Loma can take them. So yeah, a come from behind KO is my pick there. Elorde is awesome, I think if he had fought Saldivar we'd really have a good gauge of this fight. I wish the Laguna fight was on film, but alas... it's not. I reckon Loma nicks it here, as he's a bit quicker, more technical and would out-work Elorde, inside IMO. If Elorde won though I'd hardly be surprised.
I used to be in the camp that JMM was an ATG in his own right. And he has arguments saying he beat Gainer, Norwood, John and Pac. But there's also arguments to the contrary for all of them. But I also firmly believe he's better than MAB and EM.
I think he comes 2nd after El Terriblé from that trio. Although I had Morales beating MAB twice, which I think out-weighs me thinking Márquez beat Pac twice, since Morales also beat Pac.
Hard to put too much stock in the Rigondeaux win being that he was jumping up two divisions in weight and when he dropped back down he went all the way to bantamweight. Imagine JCC vs. Lupe Pintor.
Tbf I personally find the Walters victory his best. But Rigo was a very hyped super fight so thought it worth a mention.
It was a carefully selected situation to give Loma a low-risk marquee win ... “Wow this guy is a dominant champ” but in reality he’s 2-3 full divisions lower. Rigo had to take it because he was making peanuts in his own division and Top Rank was throwing more money at him than he could hope to make if he stayed a dominant champ.
Yeah but on name recognition I think even people who know better like to think it’s Rigo. And you’re 100 percent right to include Rigo in detailing Loma’s time there since the fight took place at that weight, but I look at that bout like a cheap parlor trick ... an illusionary ‘big name’ win.
