Vasiliy Lomachenko Dominates Jose Pedraza to Unify Lightweight Titles

Lomachenko landed *42 power punches* in Round 11 pic.twitter.com/SMw1bFsBlr

— ESPN (@espn) December 9, 2018

Vasiliy Lomachenko proved once again why he is considered among the current greats in the sport of boxing.

Lomachenko dominated Jose Pedraza (25-2, 12 KOs) for 12 rounds at the Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City Saturday night, and he nearly scored another stoppage along the way. “Hi-Tech” used a tactical approach to outbox the Puerto Rican throughout their ESPN-televised encounter and wound up winning a lopsided unanimous decision.

The duel was largely a one-sided and relatively uneventful affair until the 11th round, where Lomachenko dropped his foe twice. Lomachenko (12-1, 9 KOs) pelted Pedraza with a pair of vicious body shots in said stanza -- similar to the one that felled Jorge Linares in May -- but Pedraza was able to beat the count both times. The Ukrainian pugilist couldn’t put “Sniper” away, though, snapping his eight-fight knockout streak.

All three ringside judges favored Lomachenko with scores of 117-109. The win allowed the two-time Olympic gold medalist to not only retain his WBA lightweight title but also add Pedraza’s WBO crown.

After the fight, Lomachenko said his goal to unify the 135-pound titles was complete and that now it’s time for the next chapter in his career. That led many boxing observers to speculate that the three-division world champion will move up to junior welterweight in his next bout, though Lomachenko wouldn’t specify.