Vasyl Lomachenko stops Jorge Linares in tenth round to become WBA world lightweight champion at Madison Square Garden
Ukrainian continues incredible rise and becomes first boxer in history to claim three world titles in just 12 bouts
VASYL LOMACHENKO made history following his tenth-round knockout of Jorge Linares.
The Ukrainian, who recovered from a knock-down in round six, became the first man to win three world titles in his first 12 fights after picking up the WBA lightweight belt last night.
But he had to use all his power to overcome Linares, who came into the fight unbeaten for six years.
The Venezuelan started strongly, dominating the early rounds — and sent Lomachenko to the canvas in the round six with a stiff right-hand counter.
Hi-Tech had only been knocked down once in his career, but got straight back up and finished the round well.
Linares began to struggle in the second half of the fight after suffering a cut above his eye in round eight, and had to battle swelling.
And, in the tenth round, after a flurry of eight, clean punches, Lomachenko forced his opponent to a knee with a crunching body shot and the fight was over.
To his credit, Linares was returning punches right until the minute the bout was stopped.
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Afterwards, Lomachenko was full of praise for his rival, insisting: "Linares is a great champion — and the fight was good for the fans and everybody. It was a great fight.
"That right hand [knock down], it was a great punch. It happens. I prepared for the last few rounds.
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"And my father [trainer Anatoly Lomachenko] told me: 'You need to go to the body.'"
This result cemented Lomachenko's status as the most dynamic boxer.
To put his achievement of winning three world titles in his first 12 fights into context, it took Oscar De La Hoya 22 to reach the mark, while Floyd Mayweather did it with fight 34.
And Manny Pacquiao had to wait until number 41.