“This is madness. Haney will beat him. Loma has become slow.” The reaction of the boxing world to the Lomachenko-Ortiz fight

On Sunday morning, October 30, Vassily Lomachenko defeated American Jemaine Ortiz by unanimous decision, winning his 17th fight in the professional ring. Lomachenko fought his first fight in 10 months, Ortiz lost his first fight as a pro.

Not the most convincing performance of Lomachenko did not remain without comments from people of authority in the world of boxing. Moreover, many active boxers, including potential rivals of the Ukrainian, were not impressed either by Vasily’s actions in the ring or by the judges’ verdict – 115:113, 116:112 and 117:111 – in favor of Lomachenko.

“117-111 is crazy. The first card was pretty close to a draw.” – said one of the best boxers in the world, regardless of weight categories, Terence Crawford.

The undisputed lightweight champion of the world and, possibly, the future rival of Lomachenko, Devin Haney, also agrees with Crawford. “Oh, 117-111 – that was outrageous!” Said the American.

The Scrap may simply be too small for light weight. It seems to me”, – reacted to the course of the fight one of the most promoted prospects of the lightweight division Ryan Garcia.

“Sometimes boxers get old in a fight, especially when they fight a young and confident fighter. But Lomachenko shows his championship class towards the end of the fight. Good fight,” says renowned trainer and expert Teddy Atlas.

“Awesome, tough, close fight. Lomachenko acted like a champion when it was most needed against a young and talented opponent. Experience, pressure and close range work put Lomachenko ahead at the end of the fight.”

Former Ortiz rival Jemal Herring stated that many were wrong to underestimate Ortiz. “I think Ortiz has proven he has a good skill set. Despite the result, Ortiz is a good fighter.”

Shakur Stevenson, who many also call a possible rival to Lomachenko, said he did not believe the Ukrainian in the fight with Haney. “Devin will beat him. Loma is no longer the fighter he used to be. He is very slow and looks too old.”

Lomachenko’s former rival Jorge Linares also agrees with Stevenson. “We are very good friends with both Lomachenko and Haney. But if this fight happens, then I give 60 to 40 in favor of Haney. As far as I’m concerned, right now is Devin’s best time. He is fast, he has power, he moves very well in the ring. Lomachenko is Lomachenko, but this is a different weight class, a different body.”

And Teofimo Lopez, who took three titles from Lomachenko, believes that Ortiz did not fully use his plan for the fight. “I was very impressed with Ortiz. I didn’t expect that. Apparently, they studied my fight with Lomachenko for some time. He fought well up to a certain point, but against Lomachenko you really need to concentrate on the late rounds. But overall, I think Ortiz is mature enough to put up a bigger, better fight with anyone.”

Based on materialsFightnews, Boxingscene, Boxing247