37) Azumah Nelson SD Points: US Fight Commentary TV -
v Azumah Nelson 22 March 1997 WBC Super-Featherweight Corpus Christi Texas [r1] … He [Nelson] has tremendous talent … quick on his feet … [r2] … [Hernandez] being him to the punch … best punch of the fight … advantage in this second round … [r3] … [Nelson] looking strangely detached … has troubled getting in … [r4] … Nice [Nelson] right hand to the body … Azumah staggered a little … [r5] … Hernandez beating a tattoo … The Genaro Hernandez show … [r6] … [Nelson] finally has that sense of urgency … he took a terrific right hand … doing better in this round … [r7] … including fighting at close range … walking forward … [knockdown] after the bell sounded … Hernandez in trouble … [r8] … [Hernandez] coming out when he doesn’t have to … [r9] … [Nelson] looking for one shot … putting power into those punches … [r10] … [Hernandez] still landing though Azumah coming forward … [r11] … A brilliant tactical fight by Herandez … Nice left hook by Azumah Nelson … [r12] … I’ve been surprised by the strength of Hernandez tonight … [114-115 Nelson, 116-114 Hernandez, 118-110 Hernandez] US fight commentary
41) Floyd Mayweather Lost Ret 8: US Fight Commentary TV -
v Floyd Mayweather 3 October 1998 WBC Super-Featherweight Nevada [r1] … Hard right hand to the body by Genaro Hernandez … A tactical set-to … [r2] … [Mayweather] One of the best natural fighters around [Foreman] … drill smart … hard right hand … [r3] … Beating Hernandez to the punch … good [Mayweather] left hook … big one-two … the aggressor … left hook to the body … [r4] … But Mayweather comes right up the middle with an assault … that left jab is backing Genaro up … another good combination … the ultra-talented young challenger … [r5] … Vicious uppercut by Floyd Mayweather … going to work … straight right hand lead … another thunderous uppercut … [r6] … He’s like a cat [Foreman] … [r7] … One-twos … another brilliant right uppercut … six-punch combination … straight right-hand lead right on the kisser … [r8] … [Hernandez] so far behind and getting beaten up … wonderful young fighter [Mayweather] … This guy is something special [Foreman] … That’s enough. US HBO fight commentary
[8.5] VASYL LOMACHENKO 13-1-0 [Lightweight & Super-Featherweight & Featherweight] Mail online - The Guardian online - The Rise of Eastern European Boxing 2017 -
Meet Vasiliy Lomachenko, the ‘best since Mohammad Ali’ with an insane training regime including juggling and horse riding who has shredded the record books in 12 fights … and he could become the greatest boxer ever Vasiliy Lomachenko is tired. He rubs his eyes and his shoulders slump as he halfheartedly listens to voices swirling around. His foot taps away anxiously against a metal chair as another interview floats by. He doesn’t want to be here.
‘It’s always the same questions. Always.’
‘Here’ is Fitzroy Lodge gym in Lambeth, London under a bridge where trains rumble and roll overhead and ‘here’ is the limelight where the crowds gather round seeking their pound of flesh. They all want to know the same thing.
What makes him the most unique fighter in a generation? What is the secret to all the incredible things he can do?
How does a man trained by his father win two Olympic gold medals in perhaps the greatest amateur career of all time – he lost only once in 396 fights – before becoming a three-division world champion faster than any man in history?
But, for now, he doesn’t want to reveal the key to his genius. Instead, he just wants to sleep in the car outside, away from the crowds and swaying heavy bags and the shrill blasts of a bell. A little corner of peace, just for a moment.
‘No more interviews after this one,’ his manager says.
To see Lomachenko in the ring is to witness greatness, akin to watching Lionel Messi at the peak of his powers. The basic principles of boxing remain but his abstraction through the prism of his father’s training has resulted in something quite breathtaking; a collision of violence and grace that has sent him soaring through boxing’s stratosphere in record time.
Boxing’s bible, Ring magazine, have Lomachenko placed as the greatest pound-for-pound fighter in the world, ahead of Anthony Joshua, Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin to name a few. The Ukrainian has only fought 12 times professionally on his way to three world titles.
Floyd Mayweather took 34 fights to achieve the same feat.
Those dozen bouts have been put on by Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum, who has seen plenty in his 45 years in the sport. He’s witnessed Sugar Ray Leonard, George Foreman, Evander Holyfield and Manny Pacquiao up close and had a front row seat for all the greats.
‘I've never seen a fighter as technically perfect as Vasiliy,’ he said last year. ‘I am telling you without any reservation that Lomachenko is the greatest fighter I have seen since Muhammad Ali.’
In 2013, Lomachenko flew to New York with his manager Egis Klimas to meet potential promoters, but no one offered what he wanted. He wanted a fight for a world title in his professional debut.
Arum’s Top Rank came closest to offering that and got the gig. Lomachenko had to wait until his second fight to challenge for a title, which he controversially lost before he claimed the WBO featherweight belt in his third bout in 2014, equalling the record for quickest world champion in history.
He is a man in a hurry in more ways than one as he prepares to take on Jose Pedraza in New York on December 8 for the WBO world lightweight title to add to his WBA version. Another fight, another belt.
‘I'm doing everything I can for my legacy; that’s my goal,’ he says. ‘I’m doing all of this because I want to be the greatest.’
Unfortunately for Lomachenko, the road to eternal greatness meanders through an avalanche of interviews. Just one more picture, another question. He obliges gracefully then hastily disappears into the night.
Being a fighter destined for greatness is easy. Being famous; not so much.
In 2013, Lomachenko flew to New York with his manager Egis Klimas to meet potential promoters, but no one offered what he wanted. He wanted a fight for a world title in his professional debut.
In a sport littered with complex fathers and issues their relationship is straightforward. ‘He just gives me an instruction and I do it,’ Lomachenko says. ‘Simple’.
The whole family courses with talent; Vasiliy’s mother was a gymnast and martial artist and Anatoly himself was an amateur boxer and teacher before he became Ukraine’s national team’s boxing coach. It is he who’s moulded his son into something close to the ultimate boxer from the very start of his life in Bilhorod-Dnistrovsky, a small town on the Black Sea in Ukraine.
Lomachenko senior, whom Arum once described as ‘a mastermind’, placed boxing gloves on his son’s hands when he was just three days old. He boxed until he was nine and then no more; Anatoly sentenced him to four years of traditional Ukrainian dancing lessons without allowing so much as a punch thrown in anger so the multi-talented Vasiliy had the requisite footwork in order to hit and not get hit in the ring.
Before his hands could damage and his intellect could befuddle, his feet could move. ‘I think every single sport I did as a child, including dance classes, helped me to become who I am.’
Vasiliy rarely dances outside of the ring but is blessed with the most gorgeous feet inside it; his signature front-foot pivot teleports him around befuddled opponents to tee up a dazzling array of awkward punches from unusual angles. ‘It’s my favourite move. I’ve been training to do it all of my life.’
Once his feet were ready, Anatoly and Vasiliy together set about building perhaps the greatest amateur career of all time. Two Olympic golds, two world championship titles and just a single defeat later, they were ready for the pros.
Lomachenko's team aren’t so much concerned with creating the perfect boxer, but rather the ultimate athlete. He trains on tennis courts, on football pitches and on horseback to hone every muscle and instinct and to craft a body capable of dealing with any situation.
5 a.m. starts are commonplace during camp and exercises differ from day to day; Lomachenko could be playing volleyball one day and competing against himself in a game of tennis the next, or doing lengths in the pool and then running on the beach nearby with a parachute strapped to his back.
By mid-morning he is sleeping to recover before waking at 10 a.m. to get back into the gym.