He's 36 now, and no longer the blur of a man in the ring he once was. Time has robbed him of some of the incredible gifts he once possessed, but Vasily Lomachenko, despite whatever decline one wants to say he or she sees in him, remains one of the top boxers in the world.
There was a time he was nearly unmatched, so fast, so quick, so precise with his feet and so adept at creating and taking advantage of openings that he'd make great fighters look ordinary and make good fighters look like tomato cans.
It's a lot more work for Lomachenko these days, but he remains among the greatest 20 or 25 boxers in the world. This, after an amateur career that produced 396 wins in 397 fights and two Olympic gold medals, followed by a professional career in which he has won belts in three divisions and sat atop the pound-for-pound list for a while.
On Saturday in the U.S. (Sunday in Australia), Lomachenko will make a bid for another title fight when he meets ex-champion George Kambosos Jr. in Perth, Western Australia, in a bout for the IBF lightweight title that will be broadcast on ESPN.
Lomachenko is coming off of a loss to Devin Haney on May 20, 2023, in Las Vegas for the undisputed lightweight championship. Haney won the unanimous decision, but it was a close fight and Lomachenko had a legitimate argument that he deserved to win. Fights between the best of the world are often extraordinarily close and difficult to choose, and that's how the Haney-Lomachenko bout turned out.
Though it was Lomachenko's second loss in his last five bouts -- following a loss in 2020 to Teofimo Lopez -- it also proved that he remains among the elite.
"Vasiliy Lomachenko is a splendid tactician, and I enjoy watching him," Top Rank founder Bob Arum said. "George Kambosos is a real warrior. He comes to fight. He’s very exciting. This fight will be memorable, and I can’t wait to see it. And I know fans all over the world are looking forward to it.”
At his peak, a fighter like Kambosos would have been what Floyd Mayweather used to call "easy work" for Lomachenko. But Lomachenko is now a senior citizen in the boxing world but that hasn't impacted the oddsmakers. At DraftKings sports book, Lomachenko is a whopping -700 favorite to defeat Kambosos. Kambosos is +475. Lomachenko by decision is -175.
That, though, hasn't impacted Kambosos' confidence. After a massive 2021 upset of Lopez, Kambosos lost back-to-back one-sided bouts to Haney before getting back on the winning track in a close fight with Maxi Hughes on July 22, 2023, in Shawnee, Okla. No one would ever put Lomachenko's name in the same sentence as Hughes' in terms of skill level, but Kambosos is undeterred and believes he's going to deliver a beating.
“I’m extremely confident," Kambosos said. "I bring that confidence from my preparation. I’ve had a tremendous training camp. The confidence is higher than ever. When I beat Lomachenko, there will be no more road for him to go. This is retirement for him.”
Lomachenko is hardly one for trash talk, and would only said he expects the bout to "be very interesting." He's heard Kambosos' bold words and others who have suggested that he's on his last legs, but he's not about to consider that now.
He still believes the magic exists and his mind is only on doing what needs to be done to have that belt wrapped around his waist on Saturday.
“I’m just looking forward to [winning] the IBF title," Lomachenko said. "I need to take my title, and then after that, I can think about my future.”
Kambosos, though, insists he's more than just the local hero. Few gave him a chance against Lopez in 2021 but he went out and clearly and without question won the fight.
He lost the back-to-back bouts to Haney, but believes he's gotten better since those matches. Lomachenko has over 400 fights on his resume, but Kambosos still thinks he'll be able to show him something he hasn't seen before.
“I truly believe it," Kambosos said of defeating Lomachenko. "The way I’m sparring. The speed that I have. He’s never seen this kind of speed and explosive power [or] the will and the heart that I have, the desire I have to win this fight. I want this bad. I’ve prepared extremely hard for this fight. I’ve left no stone unturned. So ... you will all see.”