Ukrainian southpaw Vasyl Lomachenko, a former world featherweight, super featherweight and lightweight champion who is one of the top five 135-pounders of the moment, will return to action this Saturday at Madison Square Garden Theater, New York, after a voluntary 16-month layoff to face the little-known Jamaine “El Técnico” Ortiz.
Lomachenko is a veteran and tough fighter who has a record of 16 wins, two losses, zero draws and 11 knockouts and is rated as the best amateur boxer in history, based on the following summary:
Loma, as he is known, was Olympic champion in feather and lightweight (Beijing-2008, London 2012) and made the leap to the professional by the hand of Top Rank (promoter company of Saturday’s program), dazzled by the record of the fighter, now 34 years old, who in 397 fights in amateur won 396!, with a defeat on points, in 2007, against Albert Selinov, from which he took revenge in two subsequent clashes. He was also European and world featherweight champion at the 2007 World Championship, while he was world lightweight king in 2009 and 2012.
9 Years of success
Lomachenko entered the pro once in 12 rounds nine years ago, on October 21, 2013 in fight for the WBO international belt and defeated American Jose Ramirez. His second outing was for the WBO 126 lbs. belt against Orlando “Siri” Salido from Sonora (he lost the belt on the scales), who surprisingly beat him on points.
He then defeated Gary Russell for the WBO featherweight title, equaling the historical record of Thailand’s Saensak Muangsurin, “The Devil’s Shadow”, who was super lightweight king with only three fights, on July 15, 1975 in Bangkok with a KOT8 over Pedro “Perico” Fernandez from Aragon.
After three defenses of that belt, Loma knocked out Puerto Rican Roman “Rocky” Martinez in 5 and was crowned WBO 130 lbs. super featherweight champion. He added to his record 4 more victories in exhibition of that belt and on May 12, 4 years ago, he faced Venezuelan Jorge “Niño de Oro” Linares for the WBA lightweight crown, a tough battle in which he recovered from a sixth round knockdown with a KOT in the 10th, in which Linares fell in the middle of a melee.
Linares was followed by Puerto Rico’s Jose Pedraza (DU12) and England’s Anthony Crolla (KOT4), and then beat Britain’s Luke Campbell for his WBA and WBO belts and the unowned WBC belt.
But all three belts were short-lived for VL: he lost them to Honduran-born American Teofimo Lopez, who won an upset decision in October two years ago. After the setback Lomachenko got back on track with a win over Ghana’s Richard Commey (DU12) and in his October 2021 outpointed Japan’s Masayoshi Nakatani by a 9-round knockout. This last victory consolidated him among the best lightweights in the world alongside Lopez, the undefeated Gervonta Davis (WBA champion) and the also undefeated Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney, who is the undisputed WBC, WBO, IBF, The Ring and World Association super champion.
It is with this record that the Eurasian southpaw will face this Saturday the young American Jamaine Ortiz, nicknamed “The Scientist” for his ability and fast action – 26 years old, 8 years younger than the enemy-virtues that have allowed him to go undefeated (certainly against opponents of little or no notoriety) in 16 contests of which he has won half before the limit, which show him as capable of overcoming obstacles by any route and of whom there is not much more to say because there are no names on his record, iteramos, names that call attention.
Ortiz, who was a carpenter as a teenager and who plans to study medicine when he retires (he has said he will not be in boxing much longer), will surely put all his efforts and resources to overturn the forecasts that point to him as a sure loser against an opponent of Loma’s stature, much superior in theory, we emphasize.
Weighing results
Vasyl Lomachenko 134.6 vs. Jamaine Ortiz 134
Robeisy Ramirez 125.6 vs. Jose Matias Romero 127.4
Richard Torrez Jr 229.4 vs. Ahmed Hefny 218
Duke Ragan 128 vs. Luis Lebron 128
Nico Ali Walsh 159 vs. Billy Wagner 159
Tiger Johnson 141.4 vs. Esteban Garcia 139.2
Troy Isley 159 vs. Quincy Lavallais 157.4
Abdullah Mason 135.6 vs. Angel Barrera 135
Haven Brady Jr. 131 vs. Eric Mondragon 130.6
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