Vasyl ‘Hi-Tech’ Lomachenko (16-2-0) returns to the ring this Saturday against the undefeated Jamaine Ortiz (16-0-1) at the Theater in Madison Square Garden.
‘Loma’ is a former three-weight world champion and has seemed to make light work of top contenders on his way to gaining that feat. Starting at featherweight, Lomachenko would become world champion in just his third fight. After multiple defences, Lomachenko opted to switch to super featherweight and would instantly pick up the world title, as he stopped Roman Martinez.
The Ukrainian’s final fight at super featherweight was a much-anticipated bout with Guillermo Rigondeaux, a fight that was seen as Lomachenko’s toughest test, but he would make Rigondeaux retire in round six.
Lomachenko took over the lightweight division and would survive a knockdown to defeat Jorge Linares and become world champion. ‘Hi-Tech’ would unify the division but would lose to Teofimo Lopez in November 2020 to lose his titles.
Since then, Lomachenko has bounced back and picked up victories over Masayoshi Nakatani and former world champion, Richard Commey.
Ortiz is an undefeated American lightweight and has looked impressive in many outings. However, in his 15th outing, he faced some adversities. Ortiz was facing Joseph Adorno and was sent crashing to the canvas in round two. Ortiz would recover but would once again touchdown in round seven. Ortiz would make it to the final bell and the fight would be declared a draw.
Ortiz bounced back with a victory over Nahir Albright before picking up a career-best win over former world champion, Jamel Herring.
‘Loma’ is clamouring to get back into the world title picture but faces a tough test at the Theater at Madison Square Garden, Ortiz will have the same intentions. The fight is broadcast on Sky Sports in the early hours of Sunday morning in the UK and is shown on ESPN+ in the US.