Vasiliy Lomachenko stops George Kambosos Jr late to become champion once again

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Vasiliy Lomachenko beat George Kambosos Jr on the latter’s home turf on Saturday, stopping the Australian late to claim the vacant IBF lightweight title.

Lomachenko became the first man to finish Kambosos, dropping him twice with body shots in round 11 in Perth.

The second knockdown saw the referee wave off the fight, though Kambosos’s corner threw in the towel simultaneously.

The finish capped off a dominant performance by Lomachenko, 36. According to Compubox, the Ukrainian outlanded Kambosos by a margin of 175-40. Furthermore, 105 of Lomachenko’s landed punches were power shots, compared to 30 of Kambosos’s.

The result saw Lomachenko bounce back from a controversial points loss to Devin Haney 12 months ago. Haney retained the undisputed lightweight belts against Lomachenko, having outpointed Kambosos, 30, twice in 2022.

Haney’s recent move to super-lightweight saw the American vacate his undisputed lightweight titles, leaving the IBF belt up for grabs in Perth.

Lomachenko was offered the chance to challenge Kambosos in 2022, when the latter was unified lightweight champion. However, the Ukrainian turned down the opportunity, staying in his home country to aid soldiers amid Russia’s invasion.

Lomachenko is a former unified lightweight champion, who has also held world titles at featherweight and super-featherweight.