During this media interview captured by Fight Hub, immediately following Vasiliy Lomachenko’s stoppage win over Masayoshi Nakatani, commentator Tim Bradley gives his assessment of Lomachenko’s performance and discusses how a rematch against Teofimo Lopez could play out. Check out some excerpts from Bradley below.
On Lomachenko’s win over Nakatani
“I been tellin’ ya’ll, man — legend. Yeah, I called the knockout because you can’t do what this guy do, you can’t be great at what you do and not come back with vengeance. You can’t come back from a suffering loss and not get better, bro. This guy’s a guy that’s willing to take risks from the start of his career...it’s a different type of mentality these types of fighters have. This guy is special, he truly is.
“I mean, he made Nakatani look average. I know the size and the punching power and all that stuff, yeah, you gotta be worried about that but the footwork, I knew the in-and-out, the IQ was just too much. That’s why I said he’s gonna stop him.
“So we easily jump off the bandwagon once a guy loses — what did he do beforehand? So, anyway, great performance by Lomachenko, vintage Lomachenko, loved it, I think the (Teofimo) Lopez fight got a little bit more interesting. I don’t know if you saw, Loma started quicker. He started quicker. Normally he takes time and download — and I was hoping he would take his time against a puncher like Nakatani — but he didn’t. He took the necessary risks, he was like ‘nah, you’re not gonna knock me out, I’m gonna be right in front of you, I’m gonna move, outside position’ that front foot step shuffle — beautiful tonight...in all my years in boxing nobody does it better than that.”
On if Loma performs like he just did in a Lopez rematch, how things will go
“Let’s put it this way: he fought a one-fisted fighter tonight. One-fisted fighter. So he was able to move and get on that angle. He’s not gonna be able to do that against Lopez. Lopez is smart, he already knows where he need to be. I think Loma’s gonna pick up the intensity, I think he’s gonna start sooner and he’s gonna try to put Lopez on his back foot and have to make some smart choices.
“But Lopez, he’s double-fisted, bro. So a couple things can happen. Either Loma can have success coming in, and he will have success but he’s gonna have to take those risks. And if he gets caught with a big shot coming in from Lopez, either left hook, right hand, it’s gonna be trouble, bro.
“I don’t know who’s gonna win the rematch right now. I mean, great performance by Lomachenko, he displayed all of his skills tonight, but Lopez is no easy challenge. No easy challenge, he’s beat him once, he can do it again. Lomachenko makes the proper adjustments to start quickly like he did — don’t ever know, man. It’s probably the first time you’ve had me 50/50...I really don’t know.”