Results and video: Lomachenko dominates, stops Nakatani in ninth

In his return to the ring, Vasyl Lomachenko picked up a stoppage win against Masayoshi Nakatani.

Vasyl Lomachenko 15–2 (11 KOs) got back in the win column as he picked up a ninth round stoppage win against Masayoshi Nakatani 19–2 (13 KOs).

Early on in the fight, it was clear Nakatani was trying to use his height and reach advantage to keep Lomachenko at range. A clash of heads briefly halted the action in the first round, as the head of Lomachenko started to bleed. In the second round, Lomachenko was doing a better job of slipping Nakatani’s punches to start working on the inside.

Nakatani continued to leave himself wide open on the counter in the third and fourth rounds, which led to more success for the Ukrainian Lomachenko. Nakatani was having some success landing to the body of Lomachenko, however some were straying a bit low.

In the fifth round, Nakatani frequently clinched with Lomachenko after throwing some punches, but he paid for it late in the round when ‘Loma’ landed a right hand left hook combination that dropped Nakatani. Lomachenko had a great sixth-round. pouring it on Nakatani after landing a hard left hand against the ropes.

The right eye of Nakatani was badly swollen at the end of the eighth round. Lomachenko started the ninth round strong landing a hard left hand that wobbled Nakatani. Despite desperately trying to clinch and see out the remainder of the round, Nakatani continued to eat hooks and straights from Lomachenko and the referee stopped the fight.

Lomachenko’s win likely sets up a rematch against WBA, WBO, and The Ring lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez, who defeated Lomachenko in October 2020. However, Lopez will have to get past the undefeated George Kambosos Jr. in August before that fight is made.