By Tom Donelson / Author, Member Boxing Writers Association of America … contributor to dmboxing.com since 2008

Anthony Crolla faced Vasiliy Lomachenko in a battle for Lomachenko’s lightweight title belts. I wouldn’t use the word battle as Lomachenko chased Crolla throughout the bout, rarely in trouble. Crolla had very little answers and did very little in punching back. Using body shots along with jabs, Lomachenko dominated the action from the first round.  At the end of the third round, Lomachenko landed a combination that was counted as a knockdown as the rope kept Crolla from hitting the canvas. After an eight count, the bell ended the fight. Crolla was Lomanchenko’s punching bag.

Lomachenko ended the bout with a right hand hook from his southpaw position as Crolla hit the canvas face first. Lomachenko is now 14-1 with 11 knockouts but this record is even more impressive since he has fought the best in his division.  I doubt any fighter has as impressive a list of opponents over their first fifteen fights as Lomachenko who started his career fighting Jose Ramirez who was 25-3 and a title contender, winning by a knockout.

Now where does Lomachenko go?  He is willing to travel across the Atlantic to meet with Luke Campbell in England to defend his title but the best fight would be Mikey Garcia, a big money fight. Garcia just lost to Errol Spence for Spence’s welterweight title but Garcia was simply overwhelmed moving up to welterweight.

Garcia has stated his goal is to comeback to lightweight, and this is a better division for him as he lacked the power to deal with talent rich welterweight division. This fight would be a big fight since these are the two best fighters in the division. Some wonder if Garcia will come all the way back to the lightweight from welterweight but Lomachenko-Garcia would be a big bout for the division and there would be major bucks for both fighters.

Lomachenko is a complete fighter who can outbox an opponent or be the slugger if need be. He is the complete fighter who has broken all the rules for boxing. He didn’t start his career with easy fights but went for a title in very quick order and did not waste time moving up the ladder. He proved to have the talent and maturity to fight top talents early in his career.