BoxRec

Three one-sided world title defenses. And all three times discouraged opponents were pulled out of the fight to avoid further punishment. WBO junior lightweight world champion Vasyl Lomachenko separated himself from the pack in 2017 to not only win Fightnews.com®

Fighter of the Year honors, but also to make a strong argument for the #1 position in the P4P rankings.

Lomachenko. In April, Loma stopped WBA featherweight champion Jason Sosa after nine rounds. In August, he returned to halt Miguel Marriaga after seven rounds. And finally, in a December showdown between two two-time Olympic gold medalists, Lomachenko dominated Guillermo Rigondeaux forcing the highly regarded Rigo to quit after six rounds.
Lomachenko beat out Terence Crawford and Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, who both went 2-0 in 2017.

WBC/WBO junior welterweight champion Crawford had wins over Felix Diaz in May, and then unified the 140lb division with a spectacular KO over WBA/IBF champion Julius Indongo in August. He later relinquished the belts to move up to welterweight.

Srisaket scored a controversial majority decision over Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez in March to win the WBC 115lb belt, then after an immediate rematch was ordered, Srisaket brutally knocked out Chocolatito in September.

SenorPipino wrote: ↑26 Dec 2017, 00:01 VL beats 2 ordinary fighters and a talented but aging ( and vastly undersized) boxer, and it's enough to cop the prestigious FOY award.

Hell, back in 1997, De La Hoya beat FIVE very talented fighters (Miguel Angel Gonzalez, Sweet Pea Whitaker, David Kamau, Macho Camacho and Wilfredo Rivera) and it still wasn't deemed good enough to win FOY.

Holyfield won it with just 2 wins---Mike Tyson in the Bite Fight and the rematch with Moorer. But at least those were victories over ex-heavyweight champs.

Lomachenko's year seems pretty pedestrian in comparison. It pays to have the ESPN hype machine in your corner.

boxing_rocks wrote: ↑25 Dec 2017, 19:25 I agree with Fightnews.

gilgamesh wrote: ↑25 Dec 2017, 18:34 I'd say that's a stretch. There's at least 3 fighters that had a better year than Loma.

Freedom2013 wrote: ↑27 Dec 2017, 15:11 Roberto Duran, when he was the same age as Rigo at 37, moved up to middleweight and won a world title.

Duran's early fights were at 122.

Yet people say Rigo's moving up from junior featherweight to super featherweight was a big deal. But Loma is a small guy too. Do people realize Rigo actually had a reach advantage over Loma?

gilgamesh wrote: ↑25 Dec 2017, 18:34 I'd say that's a stretch. There's at least 3 fighters that had a better year than Loma.

Who had a more impressive year than Loma?

Freedom2013 wrote: ↑27 Dec 2017, 15:11 Roberto Duran, when he was the same age as Rigo at 37, moved up to middleweight and won a world title.

Duran's early fights were at 122.

Yet people say Rigo's moving up from junior featherweight to super featherweight was a big deal. But Loma is a small guy too. Do people realize Rigo actually had a reach advantage over Loma?

Freedom2013 wrote: ↑27 Dec 2017, 15:11 Roberto Duran, when he was the same age as Rigo at 37, moved up to middleweight and won a world title.

Duran's early fights were at 122.

Yet people say Rigo's moving up from junior featherweight to super featherweight was a big deal. But Loma is a small guy too. Do people realize Rigo actually had a reach advantage over Loma?

gilgamesh wrote: ↑25 Dec 2017, 18:34 I'd say that's a stretch. There's at least 3 fighters that had a better year than Loma.

Who had a more impressive year than Loma?

gilgamesh wrote: ↑27 Dec 2017, 15:38

Freedom2013 wrote: ↑27 Dec 2017, 15:11 Roberto Duran, when he was the same age as Rigo at 37, moved up to middleweight and won a world title.

Duran's early fights were at 122.

Yet people say Rigo's moving up from junior featherweight to super featherweight was a big deal. But Loma is a small guy too. Do people realize Rigo actually had a reach advantage over Loma?

gilgamesh wrote: ↑25 Dec 2017, 18:34 I'd say that's a stretch. There's at least 3 fighters that had a better year than Loma.

Who had a more impressive year than Loma?

Srisaket Sor Rungvisai and Anthony Joshua. Milan Melindo as well if he wins on the 31st.

Joshua and Loma you could debate are about even or perhaps Loma is slightly ahead, but I don't think either of them beats Sor.

Badhusker wrote: ↑27 Dec 2017, 16:04@ Freedom Will you be criticizing Loma for not achieving what Duran has done too? Loma started at a higher weight, has the same height and reach as Duran. He should have no trouble winning a middleweight title at age 37 if he is as good as you think he is. He should also be able to get over 100 wins.

I don't think Loma will achieve half of what Duran has.

Freedom2013 wrote: ↑28 Dec 2017, 00:32

Badhusker wrote: ↑27 Dec 2017, 16:04@ Freedom Will you be criticizing Loma for not achieving what Duran has done too? Loma started at a higher weight, has the same height and reach as Duran. He should have no trouble winning a middleweight title at age 37 if he is as good as you think he is. He should also be able to get over 100 wins.

I don't think Loma will achieve half of what Duran has.

In some ways, he has already achieved more. He was the outstanding boxer in the 2008 Olympics and won two gold medals. He probably has the best amateur record of all time. He's won world titles in two weight divisions with fewer pro fights than anyone in history.

He started in the pros much later than Duran, and Arum was only getting him two fights a year for several years, so he will never reach 100 pro wins. But neither did Mayweather and many others.

Tanzio wrote: ↑28 Dec 2017, 01:42It is not easy to demonstrate how to make a disingenuous argument in two short paragraphs, but you accomplished it.

Freedom2013 wrote: ↑28 Dec 2017, 03:40

Tanzio wrote: ↑28 Dec 2017, 01:42It is not easy to demonstrate how to make a disingenuous argument in two short paragraphs, but you accomplished it.

Nothing disingenuous in my post. You just don't like Lomachenko for some reason.

Freedom2013 wrote: ↑27 Dec 2017, 22:26

gilgamesh wrote: ↑27 Dec 2017, 15:38

Freedom2013 wrote: ↑27 Dec 2017, 15:11 Roberto Duran, when he was the same age as Rigo at 37, moved up to middleweight and won a world title.

Duran's early fights were at 122.

Yet people say Rigo's moving up from junior featherweight to super featherweight was a big deal. But Loma is a small guy too. Do people realize Rigo actually had a reach advantage over Loma?

Who had a more impressive year than Loma?

Srisaket Sor Rungvisai and Anthony Joshua. Milan Melindo as well if he wins on the 31st.

Joshua and Loma you could debate are about even or perhaps Loma is slightly ahead, but I don't think either of them beats Sor.

Joshua beat an inactive age 41 formerly great but faded boxer who was coming off a loss. Not a bad win, but not as good as Loma's win over Rigo if you look at it objectively. Loma dominated, while Joshua was nearly stopped in a back-and-forth slugfest.

gilgamesh wrote: ↑28 Dec 2017, 12:04 Where is weakness in his record?

Tanzio wrote: ↑28 Dec 2017, 13:19

gilgamesh wrote: ↑28 Dec 2017, 12:04 Where is weakness in his record?

I am not crtiquing Nomassiah. I am laughing at FreeTheGroundhogs2013’s argument for Nomassiah’s record over Duran’s.