THREAD: Some highlights from the incredible career of the amateur boxing , Vasyl Lomachenko.

In the first round of Lomachenko’s 2008 Olympics campaign at featherweight, he beat reigning world champion & #1 seed Albert Selimov of Russia. The win saw Lomachenko avenge his sole defeat as an amateur a year earlier, in the 2007 AIBA World Championship final.

We’ve seen Loma taunt opponents like this in the pro’s (you might recall him doing so against Jason Sosa), but to do so as a 20 year old in his first Olympics against an opponent of Selimov’s calibrate speaks volumes about Lomachenko’s confidence. Ballsy stuff.

In the 2008 Olympic final, Lomachenko straight-up blitzed France’s Khedafi Djelkhir in a first-round stoppage to claim gold at featherweight. Stunning performance.

In the semi-finals of the 2009 AIBA World Championships, the newly minted Olympic champion dispatched Mexico’s Oscar Valdez (a future pro world champion who I’m sure many of you will be familiar with) by an emphatic scoreline of 12-1.

Lomachenko bested Russia’s Sergey Vodopyanov in the final, an awkward opponent he’d previously met in the 2006 Juniour World Championships. Despite the 12-1 scoreline in favour of the Ukrainian, the fight itself isn’t big on action but here’s a quick snippet.

This might be one of my favourite clips - Loma pretending to draw a bow and firing his left hand like an arrow. The arrogance

After moving up to lightweight, Loma kicked off his 2011 campaign (for me, the greatest calendar year for a fighter in amateur boxing history) by beating Ukrainian compatriot Denis Berinchyk, who would go on to win Olympic at light-welterweight the following year.

Fun fact - Berinchyk was dating Lomachenko’s sister around this time. Bet that was an awkward one at dinner

This fight was actually at 64kg, although Loma would move back down to 60kg straight after. Berinchyk won at the World Championships this year.

In the first round of the 2011 AIBA World Championships, Lomachenko beat down the hapless Lomalit Moala of Tonga. Listen to the sound of those body-shots landing

In the third round Loma came up against Brazil’s Robson Conceição, who would later go on to win at the 2016 Rio Olympics as a lightweight. In Loma’s closest fight since his loss to Selimov in 2007, the Ukrainian initially lost the bout before the decision was overturned.

Rightfully so, I should add. The judging and refereeing in this contest was absolutely abysmal, with Loma scoring 3 valid knockdowns that weren’t called. The initial decision was pure nonsense, and whilst Conceição proved a tough test the right man ultimately advanced.

Conceição has always been a hot-and-cold fighter, but when he’s hot, he’s *red hot*. Despite giving a very good account of himself here, I’m sure these clips will give some idea of how Lomachenko deserves this one.

Loma’s quarter-final opponent was Uzbekistan’s Fazliddin Gaibnazarov, a future Olympic gold medalist at light-welterweight in Rio 2016. Lomachenko beat the Uzbek by a comfortable 18-10 scoreline.