Get full results here from Vasiliy Lomachenko’s brilliant destruction of Anthony Crolla
Results: Vasiliy Lomachenko def. Anthony Crolla, KO, R4, 0:58
The main event on ESPN+ featured pound for pound king Vasiliy Lomachenko defending his Lightweight title against Anthony Crolla. I thought Loma would win but that Crolla would take him the distance. I was wrong – very wrong.
It took Lomachenko just over three rounds to completely blow Crolla out of the water in a brilliant performance. From the opening bell, Loma was showing off his much lauded technical acumen. His footwork and movement were on point, as was his speed, and he instantly was firmly in control. Late in round 3, Lomachenko had Crolla against the ropes and scored with a flurry of punches. Crolla sagged into the ropes, and referee Jack Reiss made the right call, stepping in and calling it a knockdown since the ropes were all that had kept Crolla up. Loma thought he had won, but after a brief confusion, the fight resumed and Crolla was saved by the 3rd round bell.
That salvation was brief though, as Loma came on strong to start the 4th. He set Crolla up, landed a pitch perfect hook that sent Crolla violently crashing to the mat face first, and that was that.
With the win, Lomachenko extends his record to 13-1. More importantly, he shows that he’s all the way in at Lightweight, after two previous Lightweight performances that perhaps failed to capture the very best Lomachenko. But that elite fighter was here in a big way tonight.
In the post-fight interview, Lomachenko said he would like to face Mikey Garcia next, which is a tough fight to make politically, but one we can all hope to see.