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MOSCOW, RUSSIA – JULY 21, 2018: Ukrainian lightweight boxer Vasyl Lomachenko attends the WBSS (World Boxing Super Series) cruiserweight final between WBC/WBO champion Oleksandr Usyk of Ukraine, and WBA/IBF champion Murat Gassiev of Russia, at Moscow’s Olympiyskiy Arena. Valery Sharifulin/TASS (Photo by Valery SharifulinTASS via Getty Images)
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MOSCOW, RUSSIA – JULY 21, 2018: Ukrainian lightweight boxer Vasyl Lomachenko attends the WBSS (World Boxing Super Series) cruiserweight final between WBC/WBO champion Oleksandr Usyk of Ukraine, and WBA/IBF champion Murat Gassiev of Russia, at Moscow’s Olympiyskiy Arena. Valery Sharifulin/TASS (Photo by Valery SharifulinTASS via Getty Images)
Former lightweight boxing champion Vasyl Lomachenko lashed out at match officials post his loss to Teofimo Lopez on October 17, 2020. He received a lot of criticism from boxing fans for his remarks on boxing judges. The Ukrainian fighter recently cleared his stand, claiming it was all a misunderstanding.
In a conversation with The Ring, ‘Hi-Tech’ clarified his statements, which are being termed as controversial.
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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – DECEMBER 08: Vasiliy Lomachenko in action against Jose Pedraza during their WBA/WBO lightweight unification bout at The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden on December 08, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
He said, “I didn’t say that the judges were bribed, I said that they were not being objective, and they were being biased.”
Lomachenko fumed over Tim Cheatham, Julie Lederman, and Steve Weisfeld, the trio who judged his contest against Lopez. All three judges scored 112, 109, and 111 for Lomachenko in that fight. He asserted that judges were being biased. Lomachenko believes he and Lopez went toe-to-toe against each other, and the fight should have ended at least with a draw.
“I see at least a draw, but if you want to count punch-to-punch, I can say I won that fight by one round.
“How can I say the judges were bribed when I never saw that or heard about it? I never thought the judges were bribed. No, the judges were not bribed.” added Lomachenko.
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Should Vasyl Lomachenko get a rematch against Teofimo Lopez?
Lomachenko succumbed to his second professional boxing loss to Lopez. In the aforementioned interview, he expressed his curiosity to fight Lopez once again. He said, ‘‘I would like the rematch with Lopez, and if he’s saying if we fought 100 times and he would win 100 times, then prove it.”
In the first matchup, Lomachenko started slow but picked up pace in later rounds. However, this didn’t go in his favor and he ended up losing the contest by a unanimous decision. He felt Lopez and his corner got ‘lucky’ that night to get their hand raised.
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LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 29: Vasyl Lomachenko smiles during the Vasiliy Lomachenko and Luke Campbell press conference in the lead up to there WBC, WBA, WBO and Ring Magazine Lightweight World Title Fight at the Canary Riverside Plaza Hotel on August 29, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by James Chance/Getty Images)
Lomachenko is an enthralling fighter and possesses all the weapons in his artillery to be the champion. The 32-year-old still has a lot to prove and in a probable rematch, he will look forward to going all out against Lopez.
If he’s allotted a rematch, it will intrigue one and all to see his style and approach to break Teofimo Lopez right from round 1.
Do you think Lomachenko deserves a rematch against Lopez? What do you make of his statements on the judges?
