Two shows, two shining stars: Lomachenko dominates Commey, Donaire drills Gaballo

Dec 12, 2021

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Speed, movement, power, footwork, defense and rapid-fire combinations. Vasiliy Lomachenko used them all in administering a boxing clinic to Richard Commey on Saturday night.

On a mission to become undisputed lightweight champion after he had gotten so close before losing his unified belts 14 months ago, Lomachenko turned in a masterpiece in a lopsided thrashing of fellow former titlist Commey in the main event of the Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card at New York’s Madison Square Garden, which was hosting its first fight card in the main arena in two years due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Lomachenko, who dropped Commey in the seventh round and nearly stopped him, won 119-108, 119-108 and 117-110 much to the delight of the pro-Lomachenko announced crowd of 8,555.

From the outset former pound-for-pound king Lomachenko, a southpaw, showed off his tremendous movement by landing shots and quickly dancing away from Commey’s attacks.

Lomachenko, fighting his seventh opponent in row with a height and reach advantage, strafed Commey with straight left hands throughout the fight.

There was little Commey could do to fend off Lomachenko’s pin-point combinations, like one he landed in the fourth round — a sharp three-punch combination that finished to the body.

It was more of the same round after round as Lomachenko picked apart Commey to the head and body. Commey’s best weapon was his body attack, but he could not land enough to slow Lomachenko down.

As dominant as Lomachenko was, he had his biggest moments in the seventh round, when he dropped and nearly finished Commey, who was a wobbly mess but made it out of the round on sheer heart.

With Commey vanquished, the question is what is next for Lomachenko? He wants newly crowned unified champion George Kambosos Jr. next.

I wrote in detail on the fight and Lomachenko’s quest for a fight with Kambosos for The Ring magazine website at RingTV.com. Please read that story here: https://www.ringtv.com/632102-vasiliy-lomachenko-beats-richard-commey-via-dominant-decision/

Anderson erases Teslenko

Jared Anderson, viewed by many as the best American heavyweight prospect, did nothing to dissuade anyone of that notion as he erased Oleksandr Teslenko in the second round in the Lomachenko-Commey co-feature.

He was just one of the various Top Rank prospects to take care of their business on the card.

Blue chip lightweight prospect Keyshawn Davis dazzled in his return to professional boxing after claiming a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics this past summer by knocking out Jose Zaragoza in the second round of their scheduled six-rounder.

Middleweight prospect Nico Ali Walsh, who is the grandson of Muhammad Ali and was fighting at Madison Square Garden, where his grandfather made so much boxing history, edged Reyes Sanchez by majority decision.

Junior middleweight Xander Zayas entered the ring with the words “Prospect of the Year” written along the side of his shoes and he made an impressive closing argument that he should be with a first-round pummeling of Alessio Mastronunzio.

I wrote about those fights and the rest of the undercard for The Ring magazine website. Please read that story here: https://www.ringtv.com/632090-lomachenko-commey-undercard-jared-anderson-blasts-oleksandr-teslenko-in-two-rounds/#.YbV1ppbNlYU.twitter

Donaire drills Gaballo to retain title

The ageless Nonito Donaire continued to add to his Hall of Fame resume with a one-punch fourth-round knockout of fellow Filipino Reymart Gaballo, the interim titlist and mandatory challenger, to retain the WBC bantamweight title in the main event of a Showtime tripleheader on Saturday night at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, Calif.

Donaire, a four-division champion, broke his own record by becoming the oldest fighter in boxing history to win a 118-pound title when he knocked out Nordine Oubaali in the fourth round to win the belt at age 38 in May, also in Carson.

Now 39 and the second oldest reigning world titlist behind middleweight titlist Gennadiy Golovkin, Las Vegas’ Donaire (42-6, 28 KOs) made his first title defense by taking out Gaballo (24-1, 20 KOs), 25, with his signature left hook, this time to the body.

“I've been in this game for such a long time and I've had so many fights, I didn't think I was going to have to feel him out,” Donaire said. “But he came out differently than I thought he would. He tried to nullify my left hook, but I just had to have no mercy.”

Gaballo, who considers Donaire his boxing idol, was competitive with Donaire until the fight-finishing bow.

“My wife (and trainer Rachel Donaire) and my dad (Nonito Sr.) were telling me to go to the body,” Donaire said. “I had to set it up by bouncing up and down to open up that shot. I was throwing the right hand in the earlier rounds and then he didn't expect the left hook to the body.”

Gaballo momentarily got to his feet after taking the left to the body, but then dropped back to the mat again as the referee Ray Corona counted him out at 2 minutes, 59 seconds.

“I thought he was going to get up because I know he has a lot of heart, but that was a tremendous punch that landed,” Donaire said. “I just told him after the fight not to be down because he's a great fighter. I had trouble figuring him out and I'm here to help him with anything he needs the rest of his career.”

With his mandatory defense out of the way, Donaire next hopes to meet unified champion Naoya Inoue (21-0, 18 KOs), 28, of Japan, who outpointed Donaire in the 2019 consensus fight of the year. There were discussions for the rematch but they were put on hold due to Donaire’s mandatory defense being ordered. Inoue defends his belts against Aran Dipaen on Dec. 14 in Tokyo.

“It's my team's job to work on the rematch with Inoue,” Donaire said about promoter Richard Schaefer. “I believe my team is going to make it happen. I'm able to keep fighting at this age because I just have faith in myself and have a lifestyle that’s good for me. There is no such thing as a cheat day. It’s a choice day, and it’s my choice to train and to be me.”

On the undercard:

Welterweight Cody Crowley (20-0, 9 KOs), 28, a Canadian southpaw, outpointed Kudratillo Abdukakhorov (18-1, 10 KOs), 28, an Uzbekistan native fighting out of Malaysia, in an entertaining scrap. It was a devastating result for the favored Abdukakhorov, who not only lost the fight but also his position as a mandatory challenger for unified welterweight titlist Errol Spence Jr. Crowley, who survived a second-round knockdown from on a left hand, won 98-91, 97-92 and 96-94.
“I rate my performance a ‘B’ tonight,” Crowley said. “He was a tough competitor, the former IBF No. 1 contender. I was going in the underdog so I knew I was going to have to bring the fight to him the whole time. I knew that he was going to run and stop and pop with awkward shots. I was prepared for that.”

Junior welterweight prospect Brandun Lee (24-0, 22 KOs), 22, of La Quinta, California, went past the fourth round for the first time in an impressive seventh-round knockout of Juan Heraldez (16-2-1, 10 KOs), 31, of Las Vegas, whose only previous loss had come to former junior welterweight titlist Regis Prograis in his last fight in October 2020. Lee finished Heraldez with a crushing right hand at 2 minute, 11 seconds.
“I kept seeing that Juan was moving to his right and my right hand was coming up short,” Lee said. “So I knew I had to jab and box him and make him forget about that right hand. Then I made the adjustment in the seventh round and got him out of there.”

Lomachenko-Commey and Anderson-Teslenko photos: Mikey Williams/Top Rank; Donaire-Gaballo photo: Esther Lin/Showtime

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Fight Freaks Unite

Two shows, two shining stars: Lomachenko dominates Commey, Donaire drills Gaballo

Anderson erases Teslenko

Donaire drills Gaballo to retain title

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