In the main event at the O2 arena in London Vasyl Lomachenko (14-1, 10 KOs) scored a unanimous decision win over Luke Campbell (20-3, 16 KOs), and added to his two titles WBA and WBO the vacant WBC lightweight belt. The scores were 119-108 twice and 118-109.
Before the battle few gave Campbell any chances, many even called this meeting a mismatch, but despite all the criticism, Campbell appeared in this fight very alive, based on the fact that he was opposed against one of the best boxers in the world at the moment, regardless of weight categories, and we have to admit that if on the place of Lomachenko was someone else, and Campbell would contest the vacant title, he would become a champion this evening.
In general, the meeting was held with the advantage of Lomachenko, but Campbell did not look as a whipping boy. Already in the first round, he landed a number of accurate punches with his left, and Lomachenko replied with a nod, acknowledging that the hits were accurate.
The best round of Campbell can be considered the seventh, when he landed clean and even made Lomachenko for some time to lose concentration, but at the end of the round Lomachenko dominated in the ring.
In the eleventh round under a hail of blows Campbell was forced to get down on one knee, but he was able to get up and survive the round.
In the 12th round Campbell landed a punch below the belt after one of Lomachenko's attacks, then in one scene with good wrestling move picked his opponent by legs in the clinch and dropped him on the floor, and have taken a short pause.
Lomachenko before the fight was considered as the undisputed favorite of the meeting.
According to Bob Arum, Vasyl can fight one more time before the end of the year, after which, in the first four months of next year he may face the winner of the meeting on December 14 of Richard Commey vs Teofimo Lopez, who will fight for the IBF title, the only one lacking so far in the Ukrainian's collection to become the undisputed champion in this weight category.
After the fight, Campbell thanked the fans and conceded defeat: "He beat me, he is a very good boxer. He's special, we knew that he was special. But this is boxing, and I tried to win no matter what. Today was Lomachenko's night, but my time will come."
"Of course, I'm happy. I want to thank everyone who came to support us and all those who organized this event. My next goal is IBF belt, the new belt. UK fans are the best in the world. I am very grateful to them. Of course, I would like to fight next for the unification, but it all depends on my promoter," Lomachenko said after the fight.
According to CompuBox statistics, for the fight Lomachenko landed 211 punches out of 527 (40%), while Campbell landed 131 out of 420 (31%).
