Esteemed former trainer Teddy Atlas has been involved in boxing since the early 1980s, and as such has witnessed a host of elite fighters come and go.
Now, trying his hand at podcasting, Atlas simply analyses boxers as opposed to trying to coaching them to glory as he did in his younger days.
And, on a recent edition of The Fight, he discussed Vasiliy Lomachenko’s earlier career, when Atlas described him as “taking men’s souls.”
“At his best, Lomachenko was an elusive son of a gun who put on pressure and took men’s souls. He made more guys quit than I could shake a stick at, world class guys too.
I used to say on ESPN that he was like something from one of those kung fu movies. He took the heart away from world class fighters. And he did it by making them miss, making them pay and taking away their hope.”
Although the fight was close and many felt ‘Loma’ had done enough, he lost out to Devin Haney for the undisputed lightweight world title at the MGM Grand this past weekend
Defending champion Haney won by unanimous decision – 116-112, 115-113 and 115-113 – despite landing only 110 punches to Lomachenko’s 124 in Las Vegas.
It seems unlikely Haney will give Lomachenko a rematch, even though the fight was potentially close enough to warrant one.
With ‘The Dream’ emerging victorious, it sets the table for Top Rank to match him against the unbeaten Shakur Stevenson, if Haney decides to remain at 135lbs.
Stevenson entered the ring after Haney’s victory on Saturday night, and made no secret about the fact he thought his countryman was fortunate to get the decision.