Four Big Wins, Four Big Stars
Legacy, history, and heart summarizes this past fight weekend quite succinctly.
Lomachenko is back
Friday, April 12 saw pound-for-pound-great contender Vasiliy Lomachenko make easy work of mandatory lightweight challenger Anthony Crolla, putting on a four-round masterclass in the home of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Fighting out of the Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA, Lomachenko handily retained his WBO/WBA titles, but did leave the arena with a slightly injured hand caused by the fight-ending punch.
Despite the high profile nature of the opponent and the event, Crolla failed to deliver much of a challenge against the much-adored Lomachenko.
Crolla offered a flimsy guard as his only defense and Lomachenko wasted little time in dancing around and punching through Crolla, knocking him down in the third, and finishing him soundly in the fourth with a face-planting KO.
With a win over a more worthy opponent like Mikey Garcia, who Lomachenko called out in his post-fight interview, the dancing king will no doubt move closer to cementing his legacy as the pound-for-pound best of his generation.
Shields outclasses Hammer
One night later, on Saturday, April 13, saw two-time Olympic gold medalist Claressa Shields, 24, unify the middleweight titles by deftly defeating Christina Hammer in Atlantic City.
Now the undisputed women's middleweight champion, Shields stands atop the landscape as the best female boxer of all time. Who else has done more in both the amateur and professional ranks?
Shutting out Hammer with slick head movement and fast fists, Shields displayed great composure in the face of an opponent who relied heavily on clinching and holding.
Tested only by Hammer's mighty jab, Shields proved the superior striker round after round, hurting Hammer multiple times. In her post-fight interview, Hammer's speech even sounded a bit altered. She certainly ate a lot of stiff shots to the face.
Next for the pride of Michigan? Shields wants to keep solidifying her status as the GWOAT. She's looking at Cecilia Braekhus at 154 or Savannah Marshall. Marshall is a callout of a more personal nature, as it was Marshall who defeated Shields in the 2012 World Boxing Championships.
Stylebender and Diamond win gold
The ultimate fight weekend culminated later into the Saturday evening with not one, but two, battles for the ages.
Held in Atlanta, GA, the UFC 236 co-main event between Kelvin Gastelum and Israel Adesanya had UFC president Dana White so affected that he couldn't fully concentrate on the main event fight.
Four men entered the octagon on Saturday, and four warriors emerged from the ashes of their former selves. No doubt, none of these men, for better or worse, will ever be the same.
Damage and knowledge were acquired in spades as Adesanya, going into the fifth round tied 2-2 with Gastelum, engaged an extra gear and nearly finished the King's MMA middleweight.
But Gastelum had his chance in the fourth, badly hurting "The Last Stylebender" only to drop down for a takedown rather than stay upright and finish with strikes.
Had Gastelum not erred in that moment, he might very well be the interim middleweight champion right now.
Instead, Gastelum slides backwards two steps and must prepare to make the short but dangerous climb back to a contender spot. A place he occupied firmly only two months ago at UFC 234, hours before his opponent and current champ Robert Whittaker pulled out of their scheduled bout due to injury.
Someone who understands well the struggle of climbing to the top and sliding back down is the new interim lightweight champion, La Fayette's own, Dustin "The Diamond" Poirier.
Making featherweight champion Max "Blessed" Holloway look almost scrawny by comparison, the well-seasoned lightweight, displayed excellent defense and powerful striking to neutralize the tireless Hawaiian through almost five rounds.
Despite not having a power advantage, Holloway managed to put Poirier in danger a few times, with his relentless output. Poirier admitted in his post-fight interview that he was in trouble, and had to dig deep to keep Blessed from gaining an advantage.
In the end, Poirier found Holloway's head far too easily, and with the power he carries, wobbled Holloway multiple times, especially in the first round.
With more time to train, to build up his frame, Holloway can still make a career at 155, but for now, he'll have to decide which is more important - starting anew at 155, or finishing what he started at 145.
For The Diamond, his path is clear, current lightweight champion Khabib Numrmagomedov, still on suspension for the UFC 229 post-fight debacle in October 2018, awaits with open arms. The Eagle and The Diamond will likely meet in September.