?He was saying he?s a gladiator, he?s a warrior, he?s here to hurt people and win. But after he quit the fight, I don?t count him anymore as a fighter??
Saturday night at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada, in a fight televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing, WBO super featherweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko (7-1, 5 KOs), the southpaw from Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, Ukraine, defended his title against former WBA featherweight champion Nicholas Walters (26-1-1, 21 KOs), the knockout artist from Montego Bay, Jamaica, forcing the challenger to quit on his stool between rounds seven and eight.
Fighting out of the red corner in blue and yellow trunks, Lomachenko was too fast, too skilled, too smart and gifted for his overmatched opponent. Lomachenko outworked, outpunched, outthought and outfought the one-time champion, who threw in the towel, even though didn?t appear to be hurt.
Walters, fighting out of the blue corner in green, yellow and black trunks, thought his power would be enough to slow down and stop Lomachenko. But Lomachenko is a rare talent. Always moving, pivoting, darting in and out and side to side, he was impossible to hit as he fired off blistering combinations for every wild right hand Walters threw.
Lomachenko dominated round one with a sneaky jab that couldn?t miss.
Lomachenko peppered Walters with jabs in round two. He was already in control. Walters refused to let his hands go and only began to find the range as the round drew to a close.
Lomachenko easily took rounds three and four. He was totally composed. It?s hard to imagine a man more comfortable in the ring, and that includes Ward and Kovalev, as well as Mayweather, Pacquiao, whoever.
In round five Lomachenko made Walters look like an amateur. With his confidence soaring and his hands at his side, he fired off punches at will to the Jamaica?s stationary head and body. The few times the Walters landed, Lomachenko reacted with a blur of punches upstairs and down.
Walters wasn?t just being beaten. He was being humiliated.
Lomachenko continued to bamboozle Walters in round six. Walters got in a couple of shots of his own, but it was mostly one ineffective punch at a time for the Axe Man.
Lomachenko toyed with Walters in the seventh. Whatever advantages he thought he had going into the fight, Walters thought no more.
Lomachenko punched those illusions right out of his head.
Lomachenko?s corner told him between rounds seven and eight, ?Don?t let him return a punch. Keep attacking him. Continue it. He?s on the back foot.?
Just before the bell to start round eight, Walters? corner told Tony Weeks, ?No m?s.? The referee was disbelieving. Weeks turned to Walters and asked, ?Do want to continue??
Walters said ?no.?
The numbers courtesy CompuBox say it all. Lomachenko landed 114 of 437 total punches thrown (26.1%) to 49 of 264 (18.6%) for Walters. Lomachenko out-jabbed Walters 36 of 238 (15.1%) to 15 of 155 (10.4%). It was no closer in the power punch department, where Lomachenko landed 78 of 199 (39.2%), while Walters landed 34 of 120 (28.3%).
Lomachenko landed 80 total punches to 28 for Walters over the last four rounds.
?Walters is a good fighter,? said Lomachenko after the fight. ?He?s very strong. But he just stood there and made it easy for me.?
Lomachenko made it look like child?s play.
?I had my plan, knew it?d be about four rounds to figure him out, and then I went to work on him. He said he?d do this and that. In the end, he just quit.?
After complaining of ring rust, saying it was ?almost a year without fighting,? Walters said, ?It wasn?t about quitting. If you look at the last round he caught me with some good shots. He?s a great fighter. I?ve never been hit like that before. He?s very fast, a great puncher and he hit me with great shots all over my body.?
Walters talked the talk, but his fists were silent when it counted.
?In the beginning he was saying he?s a gladiator, he?s a warrior, he?s here to hurt people and win,? said Lomachenko.
?But after he quit the fight, I don?t count him anymore as a fighter.?
