Anthony Crolla claims Vasyl Lomachenko is not ‘unbeatable’ ahead of potential world title fight

The Mancunian lightweight is mandatory challenger to the mercurial Ukrainian

Tom Kershaw
Sunday 10 February 2019 13:01 GMT
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Anthony Crolla is relishing a potential bout against Vasyl Lomachenko and insists the mercurial Ukrainian is not “unbeatable” despite common consensus.

Lomachenko, the unified WBA and WBO world lightweight champion, was due to take on IBF champion Richard Commey next before the Ghanaian suffered an injury to his left hand last week.

Crolla, who is yet to return to world title level since suffering successive losses against Jorge Linares, is the WBA’s mandatory challenger after defeating Daud Yordan in November.

A purse bid for the right to host the bout is scheduled to take place next Wednesday, when a venue can be decided, and Crolla is hopeful Lomachenko will accept his challenge.

“I think a lot depends on news in the next day or two about Richard Commey,” Crolla told Sky Sports.

“The unification has been agreed between Vasyl Lomachenko and Commey, but he hurt his knuckle in that fight.

“If that’s the case, then I think that me and Vasyl Lomachenko will fight first. I’m just waiting on news now, like everyone else.

“Listen, there’s no doubt he’s a special fighter, but he’s very unorthodox, so how do you study, how do you come up with a gameplan for a fighter like that?

“But like every other fighter, we’ll watch as many fights as possible. We’re lucky with Lomachenko, there’s so much footage on him. He does a lot of things very well, but we think we can do well to unsettle him, and cause a huge upset.”

After suffering a contentious defeat to Orlando Salido when attempting to win a world title in just his second fight, two-time Olympic gold medallist world champion Lomachenko has cemented himself as one of boxing’s best pound-for-pound fighters.

Crolla defeated Duad Yordan last time out in November

That early defeat has been followed by wins over current WBC featherweight champion Gary Russell Jr, legendary Cuban amateur Guillermo Rigondeaux and Linares amongst others as the Ukrainian became a three-weight world champion in just twelve fights.

"I believe that I can win a world title again, and these are the kind of fights that I’m in it for," Crolla continued. "This is the biggest fight that can be made out there for me.

“I’ve earned it, it’s not like I’ve been given this shot. Since losing my title to Jorge Linares, I’ve come back and had three solid wins. I’ve not won the lottery or not won a raffle to fight Vasyl Lomachenko, so I’m looking forward to it and I’m loving training as I’m get older.

“No man is unbeatable. It’s been proven with Lomachenko. He lost early on in his career.

“Don’t get me wrong, he’s improved so much I believe since then as a professional. It was always a very big challenge to win a world title in your second fight, but he’s that kind of fighter. But there are weaknesses there that we see and we’re going to try and capitalise on.

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