VASYL LOMACHENKO is sanguine about taking on big-punching Nicholas Walters for the first defence of his WBO super-featherweight title on Saturday (November 26) in Las Vegas. During his long and distinguished amateur career Lomachenko insists he was never troubled by hard-hitters. “If we are talking about the amateurs – the punchers never got anywhere in their careers. Usually three rounds was not enough time to get ready for the fight. The punchers are professional boxers not amateur boxers,” he said.
Looking forward to his showdown with Walters, the Ukrainian realised, “I think it is going to be very, very hard for me in the first four rounds, then after that I will be trying to terminate the bout.
“Boxers always have an advantage over another, whether it is a longer reach or more weight or a taller guy. How I will use his reach advantage to my advantage, you will find out on Saturday.”
Nicholas Walters responded, “Bob [Arum] knows what he is talking about since he has been in the business for 50 years. Even Muhammad Ali lost fights. I don’t think this is a different Lomachenko from the guy that lost to [Orlando] Salido – he is the same Lomachenko. They say a leopard cannot change his spots right? Since he did lose to Salido, he can be as technical all he wants, but I am in the hurt business – this is a gladiator sport and I fight all of my fights like that, I fight like a gladiator. He can come in with his technical fight on Saturday and I am going to be up for it and put on a helluva show on Saturday night.
“Each fight is different and I am not going to tell you that I am going to fight Lomachenko the same way that Salido fought him. Of course, only a fool doesn’t learn from his mistakes, doesn’t learn from his mistakes in the ring. He has been training and working out so I know he is a more complete fighter than his first fight. I am not even worried, so to speak, but I know that he has learned and is a better fighter from that loss. But it is still a blemish on his record that he lost. With that in mind he has tasted defeat and I have never tasted defeat. We have stayed undefeated and we are going to keep it that way this Saturday.”
“This victory is going to put the ‘Axe Man’ to where I want to be and hopefully next year I start making over $1 million per fight. That’s what we are aiming at. So we win Saturday then move on to other opponents,” he concluded.
“I don’t have a lot to say, just that the Axe Man is going to show that he is the real Krusher on Saturday night.”
