Renowned American promoter Lou DiBella has always believed Richard Commey a brave boxer. However, even he was surprised when the former IBF lightweight champion held out in round seven last Saturday at Madison Square Garden against Vasily Lomachenko...
Commee was on the floor only in the first minute of the seventh round. Lomachenko had enough time to bring the meeting to an early victory over the brave rival from Ghana, but Commee made it to the end of the round, recovered and turned the rest of their 12-round fight into a competitive confrontation.
Lomachenko (16-2, 11 KOs) won confidently on all the judging cards, but Commey held out against the technical left-hander two years after the then undefeated Teofimo Lopez stopped him in the second round of their fight for the IBF belt in December 2019 of the year.
“I don’t know how he survived in this seventh round,” DiBella told BoxingScene.com. “And I give credit to his corner for knowing his fighter well because he actually had a couple of good rounds after that. I thought that in that round he was already finished, but he recovered and fought well from 8 to 12 rounds, it was a one-sided fight, but the audience was not bored. "
“Richie put in an incredible effort, I'm proud of him, it was the effort of a real warrior. And Loma fought like a genius. He is an extraordinarily skilled craftsman and technician. His footwork is wonderful. It was a great performance. Loma also missed some real bombs. It was a very good fight, albeit a one-sided one. "
"It was a really interesting fight," said DiBella. - It was a good, convincing victory for Lomachenko, but it was an amazing demonstration of courage, courage, courage and effort. Commee never stopped throwing his punches, never stopped going forward. I am impressed with what he did in very difficult times. Thought he showed himself to be the warrior we all know him to be. "
