ANTHONY CROLLA is a seasoned former world champion and one of the best lightweights in the world. But he knows that when he enters the Staples Center in Los Angeles on April 12 he will be going in with arguably the best fighter in the sport.
Vasyl Lomachenko is not only a two-time, two-weight Olympic gold medallist, he is already a three weight professional world champion and unified the WBO and WBA titles in his last fight. A southpaw, aside from a stumble in his second pro contest, the Ukrainian has looked imperious.
But Crolla takes heart from Lomachenko’s most recent performances. “His last few fights, he’s been hit more than what he has throughout his career. I’ve got to take something from those last two performances, what both [Jorge] Linares and [Jose] Pedraza did, but at the same time I’m a very different fighter to them. I think what I’ve got to do to beat Lomachenko is not let him dictate the pace, which he does for so long, and not get frustrated which he does [to fighters]. I’ve got to fight my own fight and not the fight that Lomachenko wants me to fight, which he’s so good at making his opponents do,” the Mancunian told Boxing News.
“What he does is tire fighters out. You’ve seen how [Oleksandr] Usyk did it with Tony Bellew,” he added. “You’re constantly thinking and thinking makes you tired.
“Physically I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in and that’s the way it should be. I’ve had good notice to fight one of the best fighters on the planet. But it’s going to come down to more than just being a fit lad.”
