Loma Batters Nakatani Even If it Was Teofimo’s Face He Was Seeing

Loma Batters Nakatani Even If it Was Teofimo’s Face He Was Seeing

Two pretty fair boxers, James Toney and Fernando Vargas, stoked their inner fires by imagining they were seeing the faces of the biological fathers who abandoned them and their mothers instead of those of their opponents on fight night. As motivational tools, imagination and hatred can be useful for those who feel a compulsive need to channel their rage at just the right moment. More than a few especially savage beatdowns were administered by Toney and Vargas to guys who probably didn’t realize they were stand-ins for those detested, deserting daddies.

That mental ploy, of course, could never work for three-division former world champion Vasiliy  Lomachenko. His papa, Anatoly Lomachenko, not only is his trainer and chief second but a man whose tough love in and out of the ring Vasiliy credits with making him the indisputably great fighter he long had been recognized as, and could, at 33, again be on the verge of being so acclaimed.

So, no, it was not some hazy apparition of an uncaring and absent parent that Lomachenko saw on the soon-to-be-battered visage of his Saturday night foe, Japan’s Masayoshi Nakatani, in the ESPN+-televised main event from the Theater at the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. But there is at least a possibility that the unfortunate Nakatani somehow resembled undisputed lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez, at least in the mind of Loma, who has thought of little else other than his quest for revenge for the bitter upset loss he was tagged with by Teo on May 30 of last year.

However Nakatani looked before the opening bell rang, be it as himself or as someone wearing an otherwise invisible Teofimo Lopez mask to suit Lomachenko’s purpose, his facial features were significantly rearranged by the time referee Celestino Ruiz, either on his own accord or at the behest of Nakatani’s concerned trainer, halted the ongoing massacre with 1 minute, 12 seconds remaining in the ninth round. As Nakatani, who was floored in the fifth round, slid to the canvas in Ruiz’s arms, his right eye was bloody and swollen shut and he also was bleeding from the mouth. Courageous to a fault, Nakatani bore the look of someone who had just taken a frightful battering.

“And it’s over!” ESPN+ blow-by-blow announcer Joe Tessitore yelped when what long had seemed inevitable was finalized. “Loma is back!”

Although Lomachenko remained on most knowledgeable observers’ top 10 pound-for-pound lists after his setback to Lopez, he no longer was viewed as the consensus No. 1, nor was he accepting of the one-sided decision – the judges’ scorecards had him far behind by margins 119-109, 117-111 and 116-112. He had continued to insist that he had fought well enough to at least have salvaged a draw, and that his performance in any case had been hindered by a sore right shoulder that had bothered him for some time beforehand during training and would again require surgery, as had been the case in 2018.

If his protestations sounded like sour grapes, it wouldn’t be the first time that a losing fighter – particularly a favored losing fighter – had rattled off a string of excuses. But Lomachenko’s second operation on his balky shoulder raised legitimate questions as to whether he was at his best against Lopez, and over the past eight months he made it a point to proclaim that in a do-over he would demonstrate that he was indeed the better of the two. Toward that end, even after the bout with Nakatani was announced, he spoke more about Lopez than he did of the taller, rangier Japanese rival who had gone the 12-round distance in losing to Teo on July 19, 2019, in Oxon Hill, Md.

The ESPN+ broadcast crew – Tessitore was joined by analysts Andre Ward and Tim Bradley Jr. – had hinted that Lomachenko could be making a mistake by apparently mentioning Lopez more than the man that would be in the opposite corner on Saturday night, who not only was world-rated and coming in with a 19-1 record, but sported advantages of 4½ inches in height and 5½ inches in reach.

But Nakatoni was selected for a reason, and that reason was for Lomachenko to prove to the world, and maybe to himself, that he could and would defeat him more impressively than Lopez had. If that was the objective, the Ukrainian southpaw, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, passed the test with flying colors. At the time of the stoppage, Loma led on the scorecards by margins 80-71 (twice) and 78-73.

Negating Nakatoni’s superior height and reach with ridiculous ease, Lomachenko (15-2, 11 KOs) utilized dips and quick pivots to get inside and land big shots. CompuBox statistics showed him connecting on 104 of 214 total punches, an inordinately high 48.6 percent (Nakatani was 29 of 250, 11.6 percent), but he was on target with 89 of 152 power shots, a staggering 58.6 percent.

Perhaps in answer to a lot of fight fans’ prayers, Teofimo Lopez Sr., who trains his son, was in the house and he said he would be only too glad to recommend that Teo Jr. (16-0, 12 KOs) proceed to a rematch with Loma once he gets past his title defense against Australia’s George Kambosos (19-0,10 KOs). That bout was to have taken place on June 5, but was postponed when Lopez tested positive for COVID-19. It was rescheduled for Aug. 14 but is expected to be pushed back into September.

“After this performance (by Loma), I think the public wants to see this fight,” the elder Lopez said of a second matchup that must take place shortly after his son’s date with Kambosos, as Teo Jr. is planning a move up to junior welterweight early in 2022. Lopez-Lomachenko II no doubt would be a huge attraction, made more so by both fighters’ absolute confidence in themselves to seize the moment.

“Maybe next year, beginning of the year,” Lomachenko said of his timetable for getting it on again with Lopez. “December, January, February. I am waiting.”

So are fight fans everywhere.

Alimkhanuly Dominates Brant

In the co-featured bout in Vegas, Kazakhstan middleweight Zhanibek “Janibek” Alimkhanuly (10-0, 6 KOs) almost toyed with former WBA titlist Rob Brant (26-3, 18 KOs) before referee Michael Ortega, at the request of Brant’s trainer, Brian McIntyre, waved off the one-sided fight at the end of the eighth round.

“That’s it, man,” said McIntyre, best known for his work with – welterweight champion Terence “Bud” Crawford. “I can’t let you get hurt.”

Known as a high-volume puncher, Brant was tentative almost from the start against Alimkhanuly, a southpaw who scored repeatedly with stiff blows that discouraged his opponent from engaging too recklessly. In the fourth round, analyst Tim Bradley Jr. said of the Kazakh, a 2016 Olympian, “This is easy. Like taking candy from a baby.”

Nor would Brant fare any better as the bout continued. McIntyre had seen enough through eight and it was pointless to proceed with the final two rounds of an unwinnable fight.

The takeaway for Alimkhanuly, who is ranked No. 2 by the WBO, No. 6 by the WBC and No. 9 by the IBF, is that his status as an emerging threat in the 160-pound weight class continues to be confirmed.

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank via Getty Images

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