"His IQ? He can do whatever he wants in that ring, and he has fun doing it."
Tuesday 27 August 2019 19:08, UK
The wide-eyed and ambitious men who fight Vasiliy Lomachenko end up speaking about his witchcraft and genius, rather than more measurable traits like power or speed.
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It is like they've seen a ghost that continues to haunt them every time they revisit the ring.
Nobody who has been inside the eye of the Lomachenko hurricane has forgotten the experience.
He has been knocked down and even beaten, yet still opponents speak of a boxer who has unlocked a sort of cheat code to the game. The men who have shared a ring with him express genuine confusion at what they have experienced.
A clear pattern that stands out? Lomachenko's former opponents describe doing okay in the early exchanges before their bodies fatigue quicker than usual. Crucially, it is only then that they realise Lomachenko has been essentially toying with them and, at this point, they are physically and mentally wilting.
"I gave him the best four rounds ever but my body fatigued," Jason Sosa told Sky Sports. "My body died. It was just too much."
Anthony Crolla, the most recent victim, agrees. He said: "When Lomachenko went through the gears, it was a horrible feeling because it was a bit like 'I can't really do anything here - I've got to wait for him to stop and then try and do something'.
"It's not that I couldn't go with him because I hadn't trained enough, it's just I couldn't live with him."
Sam Maxwell lost two amateur fights to Lomachenko, who was already an Olympic gold medal winner. He also recounts the bizarre experience of losing a boxing match without necessarily being hurt.
"I realised in that first minute how special he was because he was winning the round without even throwing punches," Maxwell told Sky Sports. "His footwork, his feints, they come together to wear you down and that's something you don't expect.
"The early rounds were quite close, but because he's making you work and think every second of every round, it takes its toll on you and it ends up becoming a struggle as it goes on."
Lomachenko met Guillermo Rigondeaux nearly three years ago in a WBO super-featherweight title fight but, more significantly, it was the first-ever professional contest between two boxers who had each won two Olympic gold medals. Meeting as unbeaten world champions, Lomachenko vs Rigondeaux was gold-laden and virtually perfect, on paper.
In reality, it wasn't close.
"It just amazes me what this guy does to his opponents," Rigondeaux's promoter Dino Duva said about Lomachenko. "He frustrates them with his athletic skills. He frustrates them so bad they don't even know what to do. He didn't even know what to do, Rigo."
Rigondeaux became the fourth consecutive opponent of Lomachenko's to retire on his stool between rounds after Nicholas Walters, Sosa and Miguel Marriaga. This crazy run earned the Ukranian maestro the nickname 'No Mas Chenko' after Roberto Duran's historic moment when he stopped boxing between rounds.
Walters, an unbeaten world champion nicknamed 'The Axe Man' with a feared power punch when he took on Lomachenko, has not been seen or heard of in the three years since retiring on his stool.
Sosa, one of the four who stopped fighting in their corners, describes how Lomachenko is slowly and deceptively inflicts pain.
"The power? He doesn't really display so much power because he only wants to show you it later. He is very intelligent. He picks you apart - he hits you with soft shots, then you don't know where the power comes from."
Crolla, knocked out in four rounds, said: "He hits harder than you expect. He varies the power up very well and just so clever, so clever at reading fighters. No man's unbeatable, but he's close to it.
"It's the first time that, as I went down, as frustrating as it was, I knew that I wouldn't beat the 10-count."
Jorge Linares, a three-weight world champion who welcomed Lomachenko to lightweight and held a notable size advantage over him, was stopped in 10 rounds.
Linares remembers a hurtful shot because it was simply so accurate: "He did surprise me with that body shot. The knockout punch was perfectly landed."
Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo went the distance with Lomachenko five years ago and described him to Sky Sports as "great, fast, agile".
The bewildered men who boxed Lomachenko also speak of his slipperiness - his innate ability to avoid any punishment which, in turn, frustrates and draws mistakes from the opponent. Lomachenko was outpointed by Orlando Salido who repeatedly hit him with low blows in his second pro fight, and was dropped by Linares before eventually winning, so he is human.
So what makes him special?
"His IQ. He can do whatever he wants in that ring, and he has fun doing it," Sosa told Sky Sports.
Crolla added: "He was very hard to hit. I didn't land enough. I remember landing one decent shot and it was the worst thing I could have done because he went through the gears a little bit, then."
Luke Campbell's task when he fights Lomachenko for the WBA, WBC and WBO lightweight titles is huge but he is also an Olympic gold medallist, and has a natural size and reach advantage.
"You have to be smarter than him," warned Sosa. "You have to think about your next move faster than he does, like chess."
Crolla was blunter: "Did I see any weaknesses? Honestly, no I didn't."
Watch Vasiliy Lomachenko vs Luke Campbell, Charlie Edwards' world title defence and Hughie Fury vs Alexander Povetkin at The O2 on August 31, live on Sky Sports Box Office.
