Vasyl Lomachenko vs Rocky Martinez

KO Of The Year? Vasyl Lomachenko Destroys Rocky Martinez at MSG Theater

Brian Mazique

Contributor 

NEW YORK, NY – JUNE 11: Vasyl Lomachenko, right, lands a left punch to the face of Roman Martinez during their Junior Lightweight WBO World Championship bout on June 11, 2016 at the Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Lomachenko won by a knockout in the fifth round. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)

One-punch knockouts usually get the nod when we think about the year’s best stoppage wins, but two-punch combinations can be a formula for beauty and brutality.
On Saturday night at the Madison Square Garden Theater in New York, live on HBO’s Boxing After Dark, Vasyl “Hi-Tech” Lomachenko (6-1, 4 KO) scored the biggest win of his professional career—and he did it with style. He captured the WBO super featherweight title when he punctuated a dominant performance with a devastating KO finish.
The 28-year-old Ukrainian stopped 33-year-old Puerto Rican champion Roman “Rocky” Martinez (29-3-3) with a sizzling left-uppercut-right-hook combination that sent the latter sprawling.

He actually used the reverberation from the uppercut to set up the right hook that proved to be the coup de grâce. The sequence served as a microcosm for an impressive display of skills from Lomachenko.
Despite having just seven professional fights, the decorated amateur champion has now won two world titles—and he’s looking for more.

His only loss came in his second pro fight back in 2014 against Orlando Salido. Per The Los Angeles Times’ Lance Pugmire, Lomachenko is eager to avenge that split-decision defeat:

Link: https://youtu.be/-1EFqmb3_hQ