In Lomachenko's first title fight vs Salido, Salido missed weight coming in at 129lbs for a 126lb fight with no attempt to shed any of it. To add insult to injury, not only was Salido 147lbs in the ring vs 135lb Lomachenko, but he also hit Loma with blatant low-blows.
Despite all of this, Salido managed to just barely win a decision. It was not a robbery, but Salido did not exactly win "fair and square" at all. It's one of those fights that you look at and can say Salido did not deserve a penny. His purse should have been given to Lomachenko. It would have served him right and anyone else who wants to come in at whatever weight they want, regardless of contract. Fighters who miss weight like that, do not deserve a paycheck. He only missed weight because the penalty was a slap on the wrist.
Anyway, to get to the point, here are three times Lomachenko was extremely passive and sabotaged his own win/TKO:
1. Lomachenko was very passive about the low blows, he did not show a mean streak at all. He was blatantly and constantly fouled and did nothing about it. Yes, he almost beat Salido anyway, but he didn't. His passiveness cost him that fight. He was getting zero help from the ref, so he should have done right back to Salido if the ref was allowing it.
2. Versus Teofimo Lopez, Lomachenko essentially gave the first half of the fight to Lopez. He was being very passive, allowing Lopez to win at the very least the first 5 rounds of the first half of the fight. This left Lopez to need to win at least only 2 more rounds, which he did. No excuses. I thought Lomachenko would school Lopez. He did not, he was way too passive. It was clear when Lomachenko let his hands go, he would batter Lopez. He caught Lopez when ever he threw combinations. The only time he had a hard time landing clean was when he would to pot shot Lopez. His handspeed shined during combination punches, not during potshotting. Lopez had the upper hand in single shots, speed for speed and power for power. Lopez was clearly, very visibly, overwhelmed with Lomachenko's power shots when Loma swarmed him. Loma just did not do enough of that.
3. Versus Commey, he won, so no one cares but when Lomachenko had a clearly wounded Commey, instead of finishing him, he stopped the fight himself to look at Commey's corner, tell them to stop the fight, TWICE. In total, Lomachenko wasted 15 seconds in round 7 (not including the 8 count) by talking to Commey's corner when he hurt him twice. That literally does nothing for Lomachenko, being all nice and passive. It's detrimental. This guy had a guy he could've KO'ed and instead allowed him to recover and basically go 12 rounds.
At 33, you can't teach an old dog new tricks. I do not think Lomachenko will ever get over his passiveness. He is who he is. I have never seen someone so good, so much superior than most of his opponents, literally allowing a top fighter he is facing, to have a chance. Lomachenko li-ter-a-lly allowed Commey to survive. You hear boxers full of sh/t, talking about they wanted to go 12 and they could have ended the fight sooner, and that they wanted to get the rounds in for their own benefit. But everyone knows they are lying and everyone saw the 12 round UD winner struggling to take out the opponent he supposedly could have taken out. In this instance Lomachenko actually did that. He really let him go.
Lomachenko is a great fighter and I think he deserves to go into the IBHOF just for his two Gold medals, his 396-1 amatuer career, and his accomplishments in the pros in just 18 fights. In Lomachenko's 18 pro fights, he has fought more top 10 fighters than, for example someone like Chris John. Lomachenko can absolutely have a shiny resume with a big number in the win column like Mayweather, Pacquiao and Canelo. He could have been 60-2 right now if he wanted, all he had to do was just pad his resume with 10 fights in 2014 and another 10 fights in 2015, like most other boxers, and then go from there and lower it to the very infamous and highly popular 2-3 fights per year formula that everyone uses.
Rant over.
tl;dr: Lomachenko is an amazing fighter, I love his fights, but he's too passive when he needs to be more aggressive instead. He is missing that mean streak that the best fighters of the past 20 years had. He is still great, still a future HOF'er in my eyes. It is just frustrating to know a fighter like him could obviously be so much more if he was a bit more mean in there. I say that as a fan. Lomachenko is not brittle handed like Mayweather, or has messed up hands/wrists like Mayweather, Calzaghe, or Malignaggi. He could actually end fights. It is up to him basically. Very great, but very weird fighter.
Despite all of this, Salido managed to just barely win a decision. It was not a robbery, but Salido did not exactly win "fair and square" at all. It's one of those fights that you look at and can say Salido did not deserve a penny. His purse should have been given to Lomachenko. It would have served him right and anyone else who wants to come in at whatever weight they want, regardless of contract. Fighters who miss weight like that, do not deserve a paycheck. He only missed weight because the penalty was a slap on the wrist.
Anyway, to get to the point, here are three times Lomachenko was extremely passive and sabotaged his own win/TKO:
1. Lomachenko was very passive about the low blows, he did not show a mean streak at all. He was blatantly and constantly fouled and did nothing about it. Yes, he almost beat Salido anyway, but he didn't. His passiveness cost him that fight. He was getting zero help from the ref, so he should have done right back to Salido if the ref was allowing it.
2. Versus Teofimo Lopez, Lomachenko essentially gave the first half of the fight to Lopez. He was being very passive, allowing Lopez to win at the very least the first 5 rounds of the first half of the fight. This left Lopez to need to win at least only 2 more rounds, which he did. No excuses. I thought Lomachenko would school Lopez. He did not, he was way too passive. It was clear when Lomachenko let his hands go, he would batter Lopez. He caught Lopez when ever he threw combinations. The only time he had a hard time landing clean was when he would to pot shot Lopez. His handspeed shined during combination punches, not during potshotting. Lopez had the upper hand in single shots, speed for speed and power for power. Lopez was clearly, very visibly, overwhelmed with Lomachenko's power shots when Loma swarmed him. Loma just did not do enough of that.
3. Versus Commey, he won, so no one cares but when Lomachenko had a clearly wounded Commey, instead of finishing him, he stopped the fight himself to look at Commey's corner, tell them to stop the fight, TWICE. In total, Lomachenko wasted 15 seconds in round 7 (not including the 8 count) by talking to Commey's corner when he hurt him twice. That literally does nothing for Lomachenko, being all nice and passive. It's detrimental. This guy had a guy he could've KO'ed and instead allowed him to recover and basically go 12 rounds.
At 33, you can't teach an old dog new tricks. I do not think Lomachenko will ever get over his passiveness. He is who he is. I have never seen someone so good, so much superior than most of his opponents, literally allowing a top fighter he is facing, to have a chance. Lomachenko li-ter-a-lly allowed Commey to survive. You hear boxers full of sh/t, talking about they wanted to go 12 and they could have ended the fight sooner, and that they wanted to get the rounds in for their own benefit. But everyone knows they are lying and everyone saw the 12 round UD winner struggling to take out the opponent he supposedly could have taken out. In this instance Lomachenko actually did that. He really let him go.
Lomachenko is a great fighter and I think he deserves to go into the IBHOF just for his two Gold medals, his 396-1 amatuer career, and his accomplishments in the pros in just 18 fights. In Lomachenko's 18 pro fights, he has fought more top 10 fighters than, for example someone like Chris John. Lomachenko can absolutely have a shiny resume with a big number in the win column like Mayweather, Pacquiao and Canelo. He could have been 60-2 right now if he wanted, all he had to do was just pad his resume with 10 fights in 2014 and another 10 fights in 2015, like most other boxers, and then go from there and lower it to the very infamous and highly popular 2-3 fights per year formula that everyone uses.
Rant over.
tl;dr: Lomachenko is an amazing fighter, I love his fights, but he's too passive when he needs to be more aggressive instead. He is missing that mean streak that the best fighters of the past 20 years had. He is still great, still a future HOF'er in my eyes. It is just frustrating to know a fighter like him could obviously be so much more if he was a bit more mean in there. I say that as a fan. Lomachenko is not brittle handed like Mayweather, or has messed up hands/wrists like Mayweather, Calzaghe, or Malignaggi. He could actually end fights. It is up to him basically. Very great, but very weird fighter.
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