“Boxing is a brutal sport,” Vasiliy Lomachenko says quietly as, on a beautiful day on a sunlit terrace in London, he considers how a fighter can lose his life in the ring. Moments earlier his arms had been spread wide on the back of a sofa so I could see the Olympic rings and the words Beijing 2008 and London 2012 tattooed into his skin in honour of the two gold medals he won as an amateur. They are a reminder that Lomachenko has one of the greatest records in the history of amateur boxing – having won 396 fights and lost just one.
He is now regarded widely as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the professional game. Last year, in only his 12th pro contest, he won his third world title at a different weight. No other fighter in boxing history had become a three-division champion so quickly. His long list of achievements are matched by the superlatives which follow almost every Lomachenko fight. His dazzling footwork and technique, combined with the exquisite geometry of his ringcraft and the venom in his fists, mean that Lomachenko is unlike any other fighter in boxing today.
But even the 31-year-old Ukrainian is not immune to boxing’s deadly realities. Steeling himself for his WBC, WBA and WBO world lightweight fight against Luke Campbell on Saturday at the O2 Arena , Lomachenko’s relaxed mood becomes serious.
He lowers his elbows on to the table and rests his chin on his fists as he remembers his friend, Maxim Dadashev, who died last month after a world title eliminator in Maryland.
“Of course I knew Max very well,” Lomachenko says of Dadashev, a 28-year-old Russian light-welterweight who lost his life so tragically. “We were friends and he helped me a few times to prepare for my fights. I sparred with him and he was at my house [in Oxnard, California] quite often. He was a very good person. But it’s the life we all live as fighters.”
Dadashev was not some no-hoper or washed-up journeyman. Rather, he was an unbeaten prospect who stepped into the ring against Subriel Matias, a Puerto Rican light-welterweight. Dadashev and Matias mirrored each other with their perfect 13-0 records.But the fight soon tilted in favour of Matias and Dadashev suffered a systematic beating. Buddy McGirt, the experienced American trainer in Dadashev’s corner, had already decided at the end of the 11th round that he was going to stop the bout. But, out of respect for his fighter, he asked Dadashev for permission to throw in the towel.
“No,” Dadashev said.
“You’re getting hit too much, Max,” McGirt urged. “Please let me do this, please?”
Dadashev did not agree but, just before the bell for the last round, McGirt waved the fight over.
After he fell ill in his dressing room, Dadashev was rushed to hospital. Emergency surgery attempted to relieve the pressure caused by a subdural hematoma on his brain and Dadashev was placed in a medically-induced coma. He died four days later, on 23 July.
“For me it was a big shock,” Lomachenko says as, sitting next to Egil Klimas, his manager, he becomes more reflective. “Max was doing very well as a boxer. So when he finished the fight I called Egil and asked: ‘How is Max?’ It was then I heard Max went to the hospital. We were all very worried and over the next few days I was in touch all the time. But afterwards I was very shocked.”
Did the distressing news make Lomachenko think more deeply about the consequences of boxing and the possibility of not fighting again?
Lomachenko is about to answer when Klimas asks, softly: “Can we change the subject?”
I can see how upset Klimas looks, because he also managed Dadashev, and so it seems right to switch tack. But it is striking that, when I ask Lomachenko if he feels fear before a fight, he offers a layered answer. “No. I always stay in focus and go in the ring very calm. But before a fight I am nervous. I don’t show you this. But of course I’m nervous. Every athlete has this feeling…”
Lomachenko talks to Klimas in Ukrainian as they try to find the right words.
“You don’t feel comfortable,” Klimas says in English as he describes the unsettling emotions Lomachenko and Campbell will experience as they wait for the lonely hours to pass before they walk to the ring.
It explains why Lomachenko insists he will not underestimate the British fighter who also won Olympic gold at London 2012. Asked if the fact that Campbell is bigger and taller, with a longer reach, will present his most obvious difficulties, Lomachenko reacts calmly. “We’ll see. But I prepare for this. I prepare with a guy who is twice as big as Luke Campbell. But nobody knows for sure until the fight starts.”
In his last bout, against another English boxer in Anthony Crolla, Lomachenko was imperious and ruthless. Crolla looked like he was bent on survival until, in the fourth round, he finally tried to engage with Lomachenko. The Mancunian said later that it was the worst thing he could have done – because he was immediately dropped and stopped.
“[Crolla] didn’t believe he could win. Every round he tried to not go down on the floor. But then he wanted to put on a show for his fans. So he threw some punches and gave me the chance to finish it.”
Campbell will be more ambitious but the bookmakers and most boxing insiders regard Lomachenko as the runaway favourite. A few voices disagree. George Groves, the former world champion super-middleweight, says that Lomachenko is the best fighter he has ever seen live – and yet he suggests that Campbell will shock everyone and win. Campbell is trained by Shane McGuigan, who also used to be in Groves’s corner. Yet, even when friendship is set aside, Campbell is a very good boxer.
Jorge Linares, their one common opponent, said this week that, if he uses his long reach, “Campbell has a great chance of winning, and don’t be shocked if he puts Lomachenko down like I did”.
Luke Campbell insists he will not be overawed when he meets Vasiliy Lomachenko at the 02 Arena tonight because of their shared history going back to 2003.
The 31-year-old from Hull, who is fighting for Lomachenko’s WBA and WBO lightweight world title belts as well as the vacant WBC title, says that while the two men never fought they often boxed the same opponents and were in the same tournaments when they were growing up.
And Campbell, who is a 9-1 underdog, maintains he can spring a stunning upset in front of 18,000 fans in London.
“I’ve known him since 2003,” Campbell said. “So I know how good he is and what he is about. He has fought all the same kids I have fought in the amateurs. Obviously he has been built up to be a superstar because of his fantastic results. He is a three-weight world champion. He deserves it because he has achieved what he has achieved.
“I’m calm and relaxed and very excited,” he added. “This is where every boxer wants to be – headlining a main event at a sold out 02 Arena. But I’m not just happy to be a part of that. I am here to win. I’ve got a job to do.” Sean Ingle
Boxing News, the British trade publication, described Campbell’s challenge in more pessimistic language: “Facing the Impossible.”
Even Lomachenko is not invincible. He grins sheepishly when asked how it felt, 15 months ago, after Linares dropped him in the sixth – before Lomachenko forced a 10th round TKO. “I was surprised. Because before I go down I think: ‘Oh, a couple more minutes and I finish this fight.’ I saw the win already and that’s when he got me. But I got up and I start from the beginning. Then I finished it.”
Despite Lomachenko’s impressive amateur record, I am more intrigued by his lone defeat in 397 fights. At the world championships in Chicago, in 2007, he lost a close decision to Russia’s Albert Selimov. “It was painful because I was undefeated. I don’t know how many fights I’d had by then. Two hundred? It was a lot and I won them all. I was young and had a very big ambition. But this loss gave me a big push. After it was over I thought: ‘Hey, one more year to the Olympics. You need to be very serious.’ So it was almost good for me to lose.’
In the opening round at the Beijing Olympics, Lomachenko faced Selimov again. The result was a formality. Lomachenko avenged his lone defeat and went on to win his first gold medal. Another Olympic title in 2012 set him up for a lucrative career in the US and, a year later in his second pro fight, he fought for the world featherweight title. He faced Orlando Salido, a tough champion who had fought 55 times previously as a professional. Salido could not make weight and came in over the featherweight limit. He also landed numerous low blows while winning a split decision over Lomachenko.
I liked the fact that Lomachenko did not make any excuses. Since then he has become a world champion at featherweight, super-feather and lightweight and so he can look back at his loss against Salido philosophically. “That fight was my problem. It wasn’t the judge’s problem, my camp, my manager, my promoter. It was just my problem. He was the champion but people who understand boxing will understand the small nuance.”
Lomachenko looks briefly uncertain before smiling when confirming that “nuance” is the right word. “He was bigger than me and I think he felt guilty [about the low blows]. But it’s my problem. I had to show more.”
The Ukrainian acknowledges boxing’s capacity for surprises and the fact that all fighters are vulnerable. So he was not shocked when Anthony Joshua was beaten by Andy Ruiz Jr this summer. “No, because I know Ruiz’s style. He has good experience and he is a very smart boxer with fast hands. I was definitely not surprised.”
It sounds as if Lomachenko might have picked Ruiz, who is also based in California, even before Joshua imploded in one of the biggest upsets in recent years? “No. I thought Joshua would win. But I knew Ruiz would give him a very hard fight.”
Who will win the rematch in December? “Nobody knows because it all depends how they are preparing.” Lomachenko is much more certain when asked if Oleksandr Usyk, his close friend and fellow Ukrainian, can become a world heavyweight champion. “Absolutely,” Lomachenko exclaims of Usyk, a former undisputed cruiserweight world champion and 2018’s Fighter of the Year, who makes his heavyweight debut in October. At London 2012, Usyk won the heavyweight gold medal while Joshua was the super-heavyweight Olympic champion.
“We had a very good party in London,” Lomachenko says of Usyk, “and good memories.”
Lomachenko cannot risk taking on many more big men. Two of his rivals in the pound-for-pound stakes, Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr, both campaign at welterweight [147lb] – two divisions higher than lightweight [135 lb]. “I can’t go to 147 because my weight when I walk around is 139. To box at 147 is not smart. But maybe I can fight Mikey Garcia. He’s 140 [a super-lightweight who was beaten badly when he moved up a division to challenge Spence]. Maybe that fight can happen.”
As the years slip away, and even a boxer as great as Lomachenko contemplates the end, he savours a return to the scene of his greatest Olympic triumph. “I love London. It’s a very beautiful city. Very interesting and unusual buildings. Look at the architecture.”
The master boxer gestures to the London skyline gleaming in the late summer sunshine near the O2. Lomachenko then leans forward intently. “I am so happy to be here because I know that people from the UK understand boxing. They are very special fans and will make an incredible atmosphere on Saturday. In the first part they will be cheering Campbell and maybe booing me.”
Lomachenko smiles again and all the hurt of remembering his lost friend, Maxim Dadashev, slips back into the shadows. “I think in the second part of the fight they are going to stop booing and will start cheering me. This is what makes them special. They love boxing.”
