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Vasiliy Lomachenko was just too much to handle for a tough, determined, but ultimately outclassed Luke Campbell.
Vasiliy Lomachenko (14-1, 10 KOs) is just one belt away from achieving undisputed status as lightweight champion.
In front of a sold-out crowd at The O2 Arena in London, the man considered to be the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world scored a knockdown and repeatedly hurt England’s Luke Campbell (20-3, 16 KOs) on his way to a unanimous decision win that really didn’t do Campbell’s creditable performance justice. Campbell may have clearly been outclassed, but he had stretches of success against the Ukrainian dynamo, but Lomachenko’s outstanding boxing skills were on full display despite the stylistic difficulties of a southpaw vs. southpaw matchup.
Campbell started off brightly by being more active with his jab and trying to make the most of his reach advantage in the first couple of rounds. Lomachenko found significant success in the third round with his ridiculously fast and accurate jab, along with a hard straight left that snapped Luke’s head back. Campbell responded with a nice uppercut to end the frame.
Lomachenko found his rhythm as the fight progressed, and he had Campbell badly hurt at the end of round five with a counter left and a follow-up body shot. A series of punches near the ropes nearly put Campbell down, but he survived.
Campbell had success going to the body towards the end of round six, and he had a big moment in round seven with a hard counter left that had Lomachenko buzzed. Just when it looked like momentum had shifted, Lomachenko unleashed a furious stretch of offense that had Campbell hurt just seconds later, and once again Campbell had to survive the end of a round.
To Luke’s credit, he remained competitive as the fight progressed to the championship rounds, landing plenty of good body shots along the way. Unfortunately for him, Lomachenko was just a step above his opponent, and he showed it in the final two rounds. A body shot barrage hurt Campbell in the 11th round and he took a knee on the canvas after a big left to the jaw. In the final round, Campbell was hurt once again to the body and Lomachenko went into berserker mode with a whirlwind of head and body shots that prompted Campbell to shoot for a takedown like an MMA fight. Seriously. This was enough to stem the tide and avoid a KO loss, but Lomachenko was the deserved winner in an entertaining battle.
Official result: Vasiliy Lomachenko def. Luke Campbell by unanimous decision (119-108, 119-108, 118-109) to defend his WBA and WBO lightweight titles, and win the WBC lightweight title