BoxRec

I have seen him fight, amateur and professional. Record of 396-1 before turning pro.

Did he deserve a World title shot after only his first pro fight?

Should he have worked his way up just like every other boxer?

To be fair, he has fought decent opposition.

Who wins? Martinez or Lomachenko?

Ruthless-RKO wrote: Did he deserve a World title shot after only his first pro fight?

What about his WSB fights?

Why should he fight endless cab drivers and bums like so many other good boxers coming out of the amateurs? He was the best amateur in the world with two Olympic gold medals and many golds in the world championships. He clearly showed he belonged in the ring with any of the top boxers in his weight class. If a great amateur like him or a Rigo can get a title fight as soon as they can...sure why not. It's not like there are only 8 weight classes and one govern body like the old days. There are so many figgin world title belts out there it's ridicules.

I don't think you can spend too much time worrying about who deserves what and how much (in boxing or I suppose in life) - not without going crazy anyway. He got his chance in the big league and proved that he belonged. Surely we'd rather guys like Thurman, Spence, Beterbiev got their chance to crash into the elite (at the weight) sooner rather than have them "earn" a shot by fighting nobodies for years and years?

I fancy Loma to beat up and probably stop Martinez. Flippantly you could say there's no way a guy who got outboxed by Ricky Burns is going to beat a ringcraft superbeast like Vasyl, but the truth is Roman doesn't have enough compensating advantages to make up for all his disadvantages in this match-up. There really can only be one winner, barring something completely unpredictable (freak injury etc).

I love fighters being matched hard from the off, and lets be fair, he's proven he can hang so what's the problem? I'd rather see more Lomachenko's, Bivols, Beterbiev's, Tanaka's and Inoue's than guys who spend years with their careers stalling

Lomachenko was given the shot because the bad guys set up to rob him.. They had Laurence Cole (who had been suspended by the Boxing Commission for flagrant bias) and corrupt judges.. Loma easily outscored Salido while absorbing more than 50 low blows.. but it was not surprising when he was robbed by SD.

With 2 pro fights under his belt he was given another shot at Gary Russell.. In effect his first defense because he beat Salido on the scales and stripped his title.. Salido never tried to make weight... Loma completely dominated Russell so they couldn't possible rob him again... But they robbed him of unification fights with Leo Santa Cruz and Lee Selby -- which they're also robbing Gary Russell of those fights... I'm anxious to see the day when there's a Featherweight Unification fight between Gary Russell and Leo Santa Cruz... I don't think it's coming because Santa Cruz knows he'd be knocked out cold.

I see Loma winning this fight comfortably.

The best amateur I've seen in recent years.
He also has the best footwork I think I've ever seen.
He's one of my favourite fighters currently.