Breaking down Vasyl Lomachenko

[MurphysLawyer]

How would i be able to improve my footwork to be even a step closer to his? Pivoting and such i undertsand but i feel like i use all of it at the wrong time.

This is very general advice, but when adding a new tool to the toolbox- slow is smooth, smooth is fast. Get your coach to explain maybe one or two of the simpler moves to you, and then practice it to death. First shadowboxing, then bag (or mitts), then drilling, and then finally sparring at progressively faster speeds. Don't have the first time you try to do something be in a heated sparring exchange with someone at or above your level

 

[MurphysLawyer]

I can see the Pacquiao comparisons but beyond the speed, and work rate I think they are different fighters. Certainly early Pacquiao was more of an athletic brawler, he's become more refined but in terms of technical skill Lomachenko is a cut above.

For me Lomachenko is the king of the feint. He feints with his footwork, he feints with head movement and he feints with his punches. He is constantly feinting and it bamboozles his opponents. Even when he is throwing actual punches he'll often throw rapid but relatively light combinations just to distract his opponent so he can move to a better angle and hit them with a heavier shots. His ability to angle off is only matched by Mayweather.

For me he's p4p best only behind PBF, Rigondeaux and maybe Ward. He really doesn't do much wrong technically, as well as having great speed, great timing and fantastic movement he has a tremendous work rate. For me he's like a cross between PBF and Manny just without Manny's power but he still hits plenty hard enough to hurt his opponents.

I don't think he'll have any trouble with conditioning in the pros he's one of the fittest athletes on the planet. I've never seen even a hint of him getting tired. He really doesn't seem to have any weaknesses. His defence is great, his offence is great, seems to have a good chin as far as we can see at amateur level and he has great speed and conditioning. He could hit harder but that's about all.

I think he might actually have an OK punch. Nothing out of this world, but respectable at least. if you watch the in-between rounds slo-mo replays, while he lands a lot of shots, surprisingly few of them hit clean. he is truly playing a points game a lot of the time.

i'd have to imagine that he'll settle and pick his shots a bit more as a pro

 

[aries]

Completely agree with that. His feinting is out of this world. For me that is what distinguish him the most from other boxers. That is his signature style.

Also unlike Pac he is always balanced.

Yes his balance is excellent. He fought a Fillipino in the WSB early this year and they kept bumping together, it was really evident that the Fillipino kept falling off balance but Lomachenko always had his feet under him and didn't stumble once.

I think he might actually have an OK punch. Nothing out of this world, but respectable at least. if you watch the in-between rounds slo-mo replays, while he lands a lot of shots, surprisingly few of them hit clean. he is truly playing a points game a lot of the time.

i'd have to imagine that he'll settle and pick his shots a bit more as a pro

Oh definitely. Like I said he has a hurtful punch but I don't see him being a 1 shot KO puncher except against lower level guys.

 

[aries]

Here's a gif of him showing two aspects of his game, firstly his feints. Notice how he combines a slip to his right with a feinted body shot. Then Lomachenko goes upstairs with a jab. This then sets up his next move, a huge drop shift to his opponents outside that takes him from in front to almost behind him in one swift maneuver. From there he launches a new attack on his blindsided opponent.

 

[Tokyo2020]

Amazing, im hoping that i can somewhat imitate his style of fighting and make it work in my fights as an amatuer so far that last time i soarred before my injury i did well with what i studied and practiced from seeing lomachenko

 

[Sinister]

Here's a gif of him showing two aspects of his game, firstly his feints. Notice how he combines a slip to his right with a feinted body shot. Then Lomachenko goes upstairs with a jab. This then sets up his next move, a huge drop shift to his opponents outside that takes him from in front to almost behind him in one swift maneuver. From there he launches a new attack on his blindsided opponent.

He executes that step well, but should be a fairly well-known tactic. It looks spectacular against a guy who doesn't now any better, but the interesting part is had his opponent simply pivoted with him, to his own right without putting his head down, hands so high they blind him, weight on the front foot, etc., he would have avoided the shot completely and had better positioning of his own. That isn't to discredit Lomanchenko, but just to note it's a difference in training and application.

 

[fightingrabbit]

Here's a gif of him showing two aspects of his game, firstly his feints. Notice how he combines a slip to his right with a feinted body shot. Then Lomachenko goes upstairs with a jab. This then sets up his next move, a huge drop shift to his opponents outside that takes him from in front to almost behind him in one swift maneuver. From there he launches a new attack on his blindsided opponent.

The last two shots after the shift weren't really sound. His weight was flying forward. They wouldn't have done much damage even if they had landed. I'm sure if the gif continued past the last looping/chopping right hook, you would see that he would have had to reset his feet to get back to position to do anything effective.

 

[Babba]

He executes that step well, but should be a fairly well-known tactic. It looks spectacular against a guy who doesn't now any better, but the interesting part is had his opponent simply pivoted with him, to his own right without putting his head down, hands so high they blind him, weight on the front foot, etc., he would have avoided the shot completely and had better positioning of his own. That isn't to discredit Lomanchenko, but just to note it's a difference in training and application.

Yeah this move is very normal, i learnt it when i was like 15-16.. it's normal move for a southpaw.

what's lomachenkos best attributes is his resillience, stamina and technically his timing and distance.. hes always there to block/roll then counter and score big points. nothing technically he does is that special. just how he does it

 

[aries]

He executes that step well, but should be a fairly well-known tactic. It looks spectacular against a guy who doesn't now any better, but the interesting part is had his opponent simply pivoted with him, to his own right without putting his head down, hands so high they blind him, weight on the front foot, etc., he would have avoided the shot completely and had better positioning of his own. That isn't to discredit Lomanchenko, but just to note it's a difference in training and application.

Yeah he managed it about 20 times in that fight! He is very quick with it though. Nice info on the counter for that move.

The last two shots after the shift weren't really sound. His weight was flying forward. They wouldn't have done much damage even if they had landed. I'm sure if the gif continued past the last looping/chopping right hook, you would see that he would have had to reset his feet to get back to position to do anything effective.

Actually he manages to get a fair bit behind it and his feet are in position, it just doesn't connect with much because his opponent is going backwards at a rate of knots.

 

[Tokyo2020]

So he does nothing out of the ordinary but does it at such a high level that his opponents dont know how to cope with it

 

[Nuclearlandmine]

Well, if you conveniently not taking account of what other guy was doing in....such as not pivoting with him, had his gloves held so high that it impede his vision. Then suuurreee, he is impressive alright. Not a knock on the guy's talent, mind you, but let's taking things into context first before riding the hype train.

 

[Tokyo2020]

Well, if you conveniently not taking account of what other guy was doing in....such as not pivoting with him, had his gloves held so high that it impede his vision. Then suuurreee, he is impressive alright. Not a knock on the guy's talent, mind you, but let's taking things into context first before riding the hype train.

Well yes but overall looking at his fights in the olympics 2008 and 2012 the man no doubt has talent. You dont just get to 400 fights with one lose without talent but for sure the pros is a different game hyping him up too much would be bad. I think as of now at the weight he will compete at the only people that would be completive against him would be rigondeaux and donaire

 

[fightingrabbit]

Yeah he managed it about 20 times in that fight! He is very quick with it though. Nice info on the counter for that move.


Actually he manages to get a fair bit behind it and his feet are in position, it just doesn't connect with much because his opponent is going backwards at a rate of knots.

Thanks for posting the continuation. I still don't think so though. I mentioned with the first gif, that after his right swing he wasn't going to be doing anything effective. Then in the continuing gif he follows with the left cross, but there's nothing to it. None of the three shots in that sequence would have done much of anything. They were all arm punches. It was a sneaky shift, just the follow up was off. I can't put my finger on it.

This is just me going armchair and nitpicking on this very particular gif and set of moves though. Like mentioned, it's not a knock on Lomachenko. I haven't watched him fight enough to judge. It wouldn't be fair to base his overall ability off a single gif.

 

[Nuclearlandmine]

I watched that fight just now. I turned off at the end of Round 3 because it was turning into a target practice. While the guy have movement and footwork, as evidently by his ability to get outside angles at will vs other guy, he still had some sort of slap-fight thing going on with his punches. And his opponent is largely overmatched, considering how he never used the jab properly, and ALWAYS facing his opponent the wrong way around. Oh, and that's hands up too. His opponent practically blinded himself with his gloves up to his temple.

Well yes but overall looking at his fights in the olympics 2008 and 2012 the man no doubt has talent. You dont just get to 400 fights with one lose without talent but for sure the pros is a different game hyping him up too much would be bad. I think as of now at the weight he will compete at the only people that would be completive against him would be rigondeaux and donaire

No sir. At the weight Donaire and Rigondeaux would absolutely smash him. Rigondeaux would make his amateur slap fight punches missed by way side while dance around him. On the other hand Donaire would KO'd him within the first 5 rounds. Keep in mind he is still fighting amateur opponents (even under pro rules in WSB) so until he joined the pros and actually make waves, any hype train right now is just a train waiting to be derailed.

 

[Tokyo2020]

I watched that fight just now. I turned off at the end of Round 3 because it was turning into a target practice. While the guy have movement and footwork, as evidently by his ability to get outside angles at will vs other guy, he still had some sort of slap-fight thing going on with his punches. And his opponent is largely overmatched, considering how he never used the jab properly, and ALWAYS facing his opponent the wrong way around. Oh, and that's hands up too.

I think the guys name was valentino but yea he was overmatched there was just no way he was gonna win his only competetion was selimov, the only man to beat him. Luke campbell vs lomachenko would have been a good fight wish campbell was in the wsb maybe that could have happened

 

[Tokyo2020]

I watched that fight just now. I turned off at the end of Round 3 because it was turning into a target practice. While the guy have movement and footwork, as evidently by his ability to get outside angles at will vs other guy, he still had some sort of slap-fight thing going on with his punches. And his opponent is largely overmatched, considering how he never used the jab properly, and ALWAYS facing his opponent the wrong way around. Oh, and that's hands up too. His opponent practically blinded himself with his gloves up to his temple.




No sir. At the weight Donaire and Rigondeaux would absolutely smash him. Rigondeaux would make his amateur slap fight punches missed by way side while dance around him. On the other hand Donaire would KO'd him within the first 5 rounds. Keep in mind he is still fighting amateur opponents (even under pro rules in WSB) so until he joined the pros and actually make waves, any hype train right now is just a train waiting to be derailed.

Yes i am sorry, you are right about that just gotta wait till his official pro debut as a 10 rounder.

 

[Tokyo2020]

http://youtu.be/FJbUu7rTqRg
One of his many good performances

 

[fightingrabbit]

http://youtu.be/FJbUu7rTqRg
One of his many good performances

Definitely strong and tough. One of the flaws i see is that he's a straight in and straight out kind of fighter. All his attacks come from up the middle, such as in the manner of Pacquaio. If you're not standing if front of him, i don't he could find you. I feel he'd have some problems if he came up against a boxer who knew how to pivot and circle. Probably won't be apparent though until he does face a fighter with that kind of style.

 

[aries]

So he does nothing out of the ordinary but does it at such a high level that his opponents dont know how to cope with it

lol exactly. The guy is a double world and double Olympic champion. He's perfect for the pro game. He has the best head movement of any amateur around and the best body punches too. Here's him punishing his opposition with crunching body shots.

[YT]MlcXQULT3Hk[/YT]

 

[aries]

No sir. At the weight Donaire and Rigondeaux would absolutely smash him. Rigondeaux would make his amateur slap fight punches missed by way side while dance around him. On the other hand Donaire would KO'd him within the first 5 rounds. Keep in mind he is still fighting amateur opponents (even under pro rules in WSB) so until he joined the pros and actually make waves, any hype train right now is just a train waiting to be derailed.

He would do to Donaire what Rigondeaux did to him