Fast Results from Las Vegas: Lomachenko Returns to his Winning Ways and More

Bob Arum’s Top Rank organization was back in The Theater of the Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas tonight for the concluding show of their June residency. Topping the bill was a 12-round non-title fight between lightweights Vasyl Lomachenko and Masayoshi Nakatani. The crowd in the intimate arena, a great venue for boxing, was announced at 2,072, a sell-out.

In his last start against Teofimo Lopez, Lomachenko started slow and his late rally was too little, too late. After that fight, he had shoulder surgery, imbuing this fight with a bit of intrigue, notwithstanding the fact that the 33-year-old Ukrainian southpaw was a massive favorite. Tonight he came out fast and piled up an early lead. A clash of heads in the opening round opened a cut on Lomachenko’s forehead, but it became a non-factor as the fight wore on.

Lomachenko hurt Nakatani at various times during the fight, knocked him down with a left-right combo in the waning seconds of round five, and damaged Nakatani’s right eye which was almost completely closed when referee Celestino Ruiz waived the fight off at the 1:48 mark of round nine. It was a vintage performance by Lomachenko who made a strong case for a rematch with Lopez, a bout in which he would almost assuredly be favored.

Co-Feature

In a fight that was unexpectedly one-sided, Kazakh southpaw Zhanibek Alimkhanuly stopped former WBA title-holder Rob Brant whose corner pulled him out after eight frames. Alimkhanuly, a stablemate of Lomachenko, won every round on all three scorecards until the bout was terminated.

Once considered a high-volume puncher, Brant (26-3) was reluctant to let his hands go in this affair. In round six, he took a knee after absorbing a straight right hand. Alimkhanuly, who is trained by Buddy McGirt, improved to 10-0 (6).

Other Bouts of Note

In a welterweight bout that was reduced from 10 to eight rounds, San Diego southpaw Giovani Santillan (27-0, 15) kept his unbeaten record intact with a unanimous decision over 36-year-old Maryland campaigner Cecil McCalla (23-4). In his previous bout, Santillan was fortunate to escape with a majority decision over Antonio DeMarco. Tonight there was no controversy. Santillan won by scores of 80-72, 79-73, and 78-74.

In an upset, Mexican bantamweight Luis Fernando Saavedra who was 8-6 heading in and had lost four of his last five, won a 6-round unanimous decision over previously undefeated Robert “Biggie” Rodriguez (9-1-1). One of several fighters from San Antonio who trains under Robert Garcia in Riverside, CA, Rodriguez never could solve Saavedra who worked the body effectively. The judges had it 59-55 and 60-54 twice.

Guido Vianello (8-0-1, 8 KOs) regained the momentum he had lost when he was held to a draw by Kingsley Ibeh with a fast destruction of Marlon Williams (6-2), a 37-year-old, six-year pro from Lafayette, Louisiana. Vianello, a 2016 Olympian who left his job as a policeman in Rome to pursue a pro career, knocked Williams to the canvas three times in the opening round. The fight wasn’t yet officially stopped when the bell rang for the next frame, so it goes into the books as a TKO at 0.01 of round 2 for the Italian.

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