Vasyl Lomachenko pauses fight to plead with opponent’s corner to stop bout

Pound-for-pound great Lomachenko handily defeated Richard Commey over 12 rounds, but wanted the fight stopped after a vicious seventh-round knockdown

Video Loading

Video Unavailable

The video will auto-play soon8Cancel

Play now

Lou DiBella reacts to George Kambosos beating Teofimo Lopez

Vasyl Lomachenko pleaded for Richard Commey’s corner to stop their fight last night after landing a big knockdown in the seventh round.

Pound-for-pound great Lomachenko dominated Commey over 12 rounds at Madison Square Garden in New York, but couldn’t close the fight despite the brutal knockdown.

He dropped Commey in the seventh, and as the Ghanaian fighter was stumbling once he returned to his feet, Lomachenko stepped away from an exchange to tell Commey’s corner to stop the fight.

Commey was visibly struggling to stay on his feet, and almost fell on his own accord without Lomachenko throwing a punch with a minute left in the round.

But his corner opted not to throw in the towel, forcing Lomachenko to search for the finish.

However, Commey recovered well and forced the Ukrainian to settle for a decision win in his second victory since losing his unified titles to Teofimo Lopez last year.

“I saw his situation,” Lomachenko said after the fight. “It was very hard for him.

“That’s why I said, ‘hey, stop the fight’ – he is a true warrior. He has a big heart and we continued and we showed for people 12 great rounds.”

The Ukrainian won a comfortable unanimous decision against Commey, with the judges scoring it a near-shutout at 119-108, 119-108 and 117-110.

Lomachenko will look to reclaim his unified titles next year, although the situation was complicated last month when Lopez lost his first defence to George Kambosos Jr.

A rematch between the Brooklyn native and Lomachenko would have been easy to make given they share a promoter in Bob Arum and Top Rank Boxing.

But Kambosos is signed with Lou DiBella, which will allow him the freedom to fight the likes of Devin Haney or Gervonta Davis, who are signed with Eddie Hearn and Floyd Mayweather respectively.

Haney, who holds the WBC belt that is separating Kambosos from the undisputed title, has stated that he would be willing to travel to Australia, the champion’s home country to unify the division.

Would you like to see Vasyl Lomachenko fight George Kambosos for the unified lightweight titles next year? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!

And Lomachenko echoed those sentiments after the bout, saying that he would be willing to face Kambosos anywhere in the world.

“I need this chance,” he said of a potential bout against the Sydney native. “If God gives me this chance I take it. I will go anywhere I need to go to fight him.”

And Lomachenko is planning to stay at 135lbs until he is the undisputed champion, which could be complicated further if WBA regular champion Davis is ordered to face Kambosos.

“I said before I don’t like talking about myself,” he continued. “In this weight division we have a lot of great fighters, we have a lot of top fighters.

“So we can organise a lot of great fights in the future. I stay 135 and I need four belts.”