Lomachenko – Pedraza

Vasyl Lomachenko and Jose Pedraza will square off in a fight counting for the Super WBA and WBO Lightweight titles, with the bout set to take place on Saturday night in New York.

Lomachenko (11-1-0, 9 KO) is one of the best and most exciting boxers right now, despite having only twelve professionals fights and one defeat. The former two time Olympic Gold Medalist (reported to win 396 of 397 amateur fights) is without a doubt one of the top 10 pound for pound fighters in the world, arguably Top 5, and is currently making the lightweight division his own. Lomachenko is coming after a spectacular 10th round KO over Jorge Linares in May, a very difficult fight against an excellent and bigger opponent.

Jose Pedraza (25-1-0, 12 KO) has just won the WBO Lightweight title less than 4 months ago in a unanimous decision over Ray Beltran, and this will be his first title defense. Although Pedraza has a very respectable record with 25 wins and just one loss, fact is that he never met anyone close to Lomachenko`s quality. In fact, some may argue that the level of opposition Pedraza faced in his career is not exactly impressive. He definitely did not fight a “5 star” boxer so far.

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Lomachenko stands at 170 cm tall with a reach of 166 cm, while Pedraza stands at 174cm tall with a reach of 179 cm.

Lomachenko didn`t have an easy fight against Linares earlier this year and was even knocked down once, but Pedraza is not likely to pose the same danger. The problem for Lomachenko against Linares was that the Venezuelan was simply bigger, and Lomachenko himself stated that he felt the power of Linares right from the start. Pedraza (while taller and much longer than Lomachenko) does not have that kind of power.

Pedraza (a defensive counter puncher) will attempt to keep his opponent at bay with his jab and length, but there`s no way he can do that consistently for the whole fight against the super fast Lomachenko.

Once the Ukrainean gets inside, there will be huge problems for Pedraza, and quite honestly he doesn`t look likely to finish this bout on his feet. Pedraza doesn`t necessarily have the most durable chin, having been knocked out by a junior lightweight last year in his only loss (vs Gervonta Davis).

Lomachenko has amazing KO power for the lightweight division and not only is he knocking people out, but he is simply making them quit, which is even worse. In 4 of Lomachenko`s last 5 fights the opponents simply retired (each time before the 10th round), as they were too hurt and / or completely hopeless. The Ukrainean is basically taking people`s souls away, as boxing trainer and commentator Teddy Atlas smartly put it.

This should be a relatively comfortable win for Lomachenko, possibly (probably) with a KO in the middle rounds, unless Pedraza follows the example of Lomachenko’s previous opponents and retires. My tip will be under 9,5 rounds to be played.

Pick: under 9,5 rounds
Odds: 1.64 @ 1xBet
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 5.12
Event date: 9 December