By Norm Frauenheim-
There’s something singular about Vasiliy Lomachenko. That’s another way of saying there’s nobody else quite like him. His unique skillset is often compared to modern art, a cutting-edge exhibition on canvas that has seen it all.
The portrayal works. At least, it has in promotional terms for the last couple of years. Against Anthony Crolla Friday at Los Angeles Staples Center in an ESPN+ televised bout (8 p.m. PT/11 p.m. ET), the artist will be back at work.
Crolla is just there, another opponent Lomachenko is expected to add to his brilliant body of work. The idea is to watch how Lomachenko does it. The result doesn’t appear to be in doubt. If you believe the odds, Crolla is nothing more than a piece of clay that Lomachenko’s array of many-angled punches will sculpt into another victory.
Crolla is an 18-to-1 underdog. There are reports that a betting site has listed Lomachenko as a 100-to-1 favorite. Art can be massacre, too.
It’s worth a look. Lomachenko always is. But we don’t watch fights because we’re looking for museum masterpieces. We’re seeking drama, often the kind that is painted in blood-red tones.
Lomachenko (12-1, 9 KOs) is facing Crolla (34-6-3, 13 KOs) because of a hand injury suffered by Richard Commey, whose IBF lightweight title represented a chance for the Ukrainian to add a fourth major belt to his collection.
Commey would get a better shot from oddsmakers than Crolla has. But probably not by much. Commey figures to wind up the way Crolla will when and if the IBF champ faces Lomachenko.
Lomachenko, probably the best Olympic boxer since Cuban heavyweight Teofilo Stevenson, wants unification.
Fans want a test.
A potential one has been there for years in Mikey Garcia, still the World Boxing Council’s lightweight champion despite his one-sided welterweight loss to Errol Spence Jr. on March 16. The Garcia-Lomachenko possibility had been No. 1 in the public mind of fights the fans wanted to see. But it cooled, in large part because of Garcia’s divorce from Top Rank and his current relationship with PBC.
Now, there’s also an erosion in the way some see Garcia, who was overmatched in his loss to a much bigger Spence. There’s still some question about what Garcia will do next.
To wit: Will he go back to 135 pounds? Or will he wait and hope for a shot at Manny Pacquiao, perhaps at 140?
Lomachenko still hopes for a showdown with Garcia, but he night have to wait until Garcia wins a couple of bouts that will help put the Spence loss in the rear-view mirror. Guess here: Garcia will still be the threat he was at 135, but he will have to restore credibility lost in the risky venture against Spence.
“I still want that fight, 100 percent, but it is up to Mikey,’’ Lomachenko said in interviews before Friday’s opening bell. “Can he cut the weight? I don’t know. But if he can make 135, I want that fight.’’
Both Lomachenko and Crolla made weight Thursday at a weigh-in moved from Staples Center to the Los Angeles Convention Center because of a memorial service for rapper Nipsey Hussle. Lomachenko was 134.4 pounds; Crolla 134.8.
Top Rank is making alternate plans. It’s no secret that Garcia and the promotional company don’t exactly get along. Emerging sensation Teofimo Lopez has been mentioned as a Lomachenko possibility. So, too, has Miguel Berchelt, if Berchelt beats Francisco Vargas in their May 11 rematch at Tucson’s Community Center in an ESPN-televised card that will also include a Isaac Dogboe-Emanuel Navarrete rematch.
But Lomachenko has always want to fight Garcia. Perhaps, the artist in him foresees a classic. But there’s something else, too. In the end, he understands that his mastery of the ring craft only becomes enduring art if it is challenged, tested by another acknowledged master.
