Battle for the Belts

The popular and talented Vasyl Lomachenko is back in the ring tonight as he faces Anthony Crolla on ESPN for all of Vasyl’s belts.

Title Fight Info
12 rounds, Lightweight (147 lbs)
WBA Super Lightweight & WBO Lightweight
Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
Apr 12, 2019, 5:00 pm, ESPN+

Tale of the Tape

Vasiliy Lomachenko defends his belts against Anthony Crolla. Lomachenko was last in the ring on 12/08/2018 when he successfully defended his belts against Jose Pedrasa 25-2-0 via 12 round UD. Crolla was last in the ring on 11/10/2018, and was victorious against Daud Yordan 38-4-0 in a 12 Rd UD. Vasiliy was supposed to fight for a unification bout against IBF lightweight champ, and Ring’s # 2 ranked lightweight Richard Commey, but Commey had to pull out do to an injury.  A unification bout would definitely have been more intriguing, but anytime you get to watch Loma fight, you should. Lomachenko should be able to cruise to an easy victory. The fight isn’t going to be easy because Crolla isn’t skilled, it’s just that Lomachenko is the far superior boxer. Crolla only has 13 KOs in his 34 victories, so he doesn’t have the power to knockout “Loma”. Without the knockout power, and with Loma being the better boxer by far, it’s hard to see a route to victory for Crolla.   

Prediction: Loma wins via 12 rd UD.

The Shield(s) vs the Hammer

The main event on showtime features two undefeated, world-class fighters, Claressa Shields vs Christina Hammer.

Title Fight Info
12 rounds, Middleweight
IBF, WBA, WBC, WBO Middleweight Belts
Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, NJ
Apr 11, 2019, 6:00 pm, SHO

Tale of the Tape

Claressa Shields and Christina Hammer will be fighting in what some are calling the biggest fight in women’s boxing history.  This is a unification fight for all the belts at middleweight. It will be for the Inaugural Ring Magazine Women’s Championship, Shields’ IBF, WBA, and WBC middleweight belts, and Hammer’ WBO middleweight belt.  Shields is only 8-0 but already has three belts, and is a 2 time Olympic gold medalist. Hammer has been fighting since 2009, and in 2010 became the youngest ever women’s champion at 19 years old. Both fighters have different, but very impressive resumes. When it comes to boxing styles, Hammer has some solid technical skills, and it’s easy to see why she has been a champion for so long.  Now Shields brings some nice boxing skills as well, and her 2 gold medals are proof of those skills. I would favor Hammer a bit on the technical side of things over Shields, and I would favor Shields over hammer when it comes to boxing IQ , and work rate. This is the fight that I am looking forward to most this weekend, and I just hope it doesn’t disappoint.

My prediction: Claressa Shields wins via 10 rd UD…

….and we definitely get a rematch.

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Full Fight Schedule

Friday, April 12th

Arnold Barboza Jr 🇺🇸 (20-0, 7 KO) vs Mike Alvarado 🇺🇸 (40-4, 28 KO)
10 rounds – Welterweight

Gilberto Ramirez 🇲🇽 (39-0-0, 25 KO) vs Tommy Karpency 🇺🇸 (29-6-1, 18 KO)
10 rounds – Light Heavyweight

Vasyl Lomachenko 🇺🇦 (12-1, 9 KO) vs Anthony Crolla 🇬🇧 (34-6-3, 13 KO)
12 rounds – Lightweight

Saturday, April 13th

Otto Wallin 🇸🇪 (20-0, 13 KO) vs Nick Kisner 🇺🇸 (21-4-1, 6 KO)
10 rounds – Heavyweight

Jermaine Franklin 🇺🇸 (17-0, 13 KO) vs Rydell Booker 🇺🇸 (25-0-1, 12 KO)
10 rounds – Heavyweight

Claressa Shields 🇺🇸 (8-0, 2 KO) vs Christina Hammer 🇩🇪 (24-0, 11 KO)
12 rounds – Middleweight

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Sakio Bika 🇨🇲/🇦🇺 (34-7-3, 22 KO) vs Lionell Thompson 🇺🇸 (20-5, 11 KO)
10 rounds – Super Middleweight

Peter Quillin 🇺🇸 (34-1-1, 23 KO) vs #8 Caleb Truax 🇺🇸 (30-4-2, 19 KO)
10 rounds – Super Middleweight

#7 Sergiy Derevyanchenko 🇺🇦 (12-1, 10 KO) vs Jack Culcay 🇩🇪 (25-3, 13 KO)
12 rounds – Middleweight

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#7 Diego De La Hoya 🇲🇽 (21-0, 10 KO) vs Enrique Bernache 🇲🇽 (24-12, 12 KO)
10 rounds – Featherweight

#3 Jaime Munguia 🇲🇽 (32-0, 26 KO) vs Dennis Hogan 🇮🇪 (28-1-1, 7 KO)
12 rounds – Junior Middleweight

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Note: Any number next to the boxer corresponds with his/her rankings on Ring.com.

Erick Garcia is a podcaster and boxing junkie. He has been covering the boxing since 2016 for the30minutelunchbreak.com. You can view all of his posts and articles, and follow him on Twitter.