Lomachenko Snags UD12 Over Better Than Maybe Expected Pedraza

Jose Pedraza did better than most smarts said he would against Vasyl Lomachenko at the MSG Theater on Saturday, and on ESPN.

But, big but. He didn’t do enough to down Loma, who might have had a lil coat of rust coming off a shoulder injury affecting him.

You wouldn’t have known that in a sick round 11, though, when Loma (240-738 on CompuBox, 32% landed) flurried for what seemed like two minutes, and knocked the Puerto Rican to the mat twice.

Pedraza (111-931, 11% landed), whose stock rises with the loss, made it to the 12th and evaded the Ukrainian enough to hear the final bell. Alas, he also heard what those in attendance knew, that Loma had this thing in hand.

By scores of 119-107 (Tom Schreck), 117-109 (Steve Weisfeld, the best in the biz), 117-109 (Joseph Pasquale) Loma added another 135 pound belt to his collection.

No, the width of the scores don’t at all tell you the story of the bout. If we were able to, some of those rounds would have been scored 10-9.5.

The crowd of 5,312, the fire marshal’s limit, roared at every Loma launch and landing.

In the first, the lefty Loma waited and scouted. He used mini steps, dipped right and left, leaned, searched for the holes. Pedraza mostly watched, sort of mesmerized. VL used more level changes as the round progressed.

In the second, Loma closed the distance and started pecking away more. Pedraza feinted, and the crowd ahhhed when Loma landed a clean lead. The majestic footwork of Loma is almost enough to win him rounds based on that alone.

In the third, Pedraza was weaving right and left, not committing to much, knowing there’d be countering hell to pay. A three punch combo landed on the PR man, and the Loma fans roared.

In the fourth, the Ukrainian wiz followed Pedraza, who slid to his right. He then went lefty himself, and stalked Loma. And the PR man stayed lefty! But got tagged three times late in the round.

In the fifth, Loma saw a righty Pedraza. Then lefty….and late Loma worked a few flurries that jazzed the crowd.

In the sixth, Loma’s D was gorgeous. And his jab was snappier. But the Sniper was fighting smart. He was staying savvy and aware. He didn’t over commit and thus Loma didn’t have openings to find and exploit.

In the seventh, more pressure from VL. Lots more, and Pedraza held pretty tough. Back to lefty he went. His sniping as he back tracked maybe gave him the round.

In the 8th, Jose’s body attack landed loudly. Then Jose stopped moving…and Loma was getting clean looks. But Sniper remembered his legs and finished well.

In 9, Loma hunted and pressured Sniper. He didn’t flurry every time he could have, you know him, he’s economical. But in about four spots, he did land multiple shots, and he grabbed that round.

In 10, lefty Sniper landed a right hook to the body that ricocheted off the back wall. Then a right hook to the head…he was taking the round. He won the round, and yes, he was doing better than 95% of the smarts predicted.

In 11, down went Sniper. It was a minute long flurry! Down again….Up late and the bell rang. Body shots were hurtful both times.

In 12, Pedraza ran to stay aloft. No shame in that….We’d go to the cards…

Here is the release Top Rank sent out after: