HOW did Vasiliy Lomachenko get so good that 2012 Olympic Team GB champion Luke Campbell is a 10-1 outsider for their 02 showdown on Saturday?
How did the 5ft 7in southpaw lose just one of 397 amateur bouts, claim two Olympic golds, win the WBO featherweight world title in just his third pro fight, the super-feather version in his seventh and the WBA lightweight strap in his 12th?
How did he make Cuban defensive genius Guillermo Rigondeaux quit after just six one-sided 2017 rounds?
And how did he get off the canvas against three-weight king Jorge Linares in 2018 to sensationally stop him in the 10th?
He did it thanks to the unorthodox training methods his maverick dad invented, from banning boxing in favour of traditional Ukrainian folk dancing, punching a tennis ball tied to a baseball cap, holding his breath underwater for up to four minutes – and juggling.
He does it by training his mind as well as his body, exercising his brain as well as his hulking muscles with maths equations and word games undertaken only after energy-sapping physical sessions when his body is most distressed.
After showing startling early boxing promise from the age of just four, Lomachenko’s dad forced him to stop training and focus solely on dancing to improve his footwork and he was not allowed back into the gym until four years later.
There are now domino-like blocks he balances in his rapid hands, sums he solves by jabbing numbers pinned on his gym wall and word games played with laminated pieces of paper.
A May 2018 shoulder operation might have scuppered some of his old methods. But it also showed his ability to adapt and he now goes kayaking and plays a bizarre tennis-volleyball hybrid game instead.
The incredible strength and poise he demonstrates by walking across the ring on his hands has almost become old hat for his long-time fans, spoiled for choice when it comes to YouTube videos of his unusual ways.
Hand-eye coordination, mesmerising footwork and genius defensive skills would be enough to make Lomachenko a superstar. But he combines it with a relentless pressure style and punching power that 2018 British victim Anthony Crolla compared to being tasered.
Rigondeaux and 2016 opponent Nicholas Walters both quit on their stools, refusing to be further embarrassed by Loma.
VASILIY LOMACHENKO will be a stern test for Luke Campbell — but the Ukrainian’s solitary pro defeat came against an UBER DRIVER.
Mexican Orlando Salido took hires in his spare time, yet in 2014 he became the only blemish on Lomachenko’s otherwise pristine record.
Salido — 33 at the time and a featherweight — had suffered 12 losses before stepping into the ring with feared Lomachenko.
And he even came into the fight 2.2lb overweight. Sneaky Salido used dirty tactics but managed to nick a win on points in Texas. Perhaps you could say it was not a fare fight!
Jason Sosa and Miguel Marriaga were both pulled out of their 2017 fights by their concerned corners, after taking severe punishment from the softly spoken and smiling assassin.
There is no malice in Loma, he makes no effort to intimidate or undermine his rivals. When Saturday night’s opponent towered over him in the O2 ring on July 20, before Dillian Whyte’s win over Oscar Rivas, he smiled and soaked up the atmosphere.
When he visited the UK in September 2018, the millionaire fighter spent time at the Fitzroy Lodge gym in South London teaching school kids his best tricks and turning down interviews that could have been used to boost his profile.
The most barbaric thing about him is probably his love of fishing. The serenity long days on the lake give him is the only way he can switch off from boxing and the relentless competitive edge that drives him.
Naturally, Lomachenko is a featherweight but he dominated the division so thoroughly that he has had to put on weight in search of more rewarding challenges.
A tattoo on his chest reveals a pair of boxing gloves underneath the skin where the heart of a normal man should be and, below that etching, on his rock-hard abs, is a portrait of his father Anatoly.
The final week of fight camp is his favourite period, when all the graft has been done and he can relax before putting on another show.
But Anatoly never switches off, watching videos of his son’s opponent in the back of the car as the team drives around.
Loma regards his old man as part martial arts sensei and part Buddha for his understated yet methodical method of teaching. Every single punch of every single sparring session is logged on an old-school tally counter before it goes into a computer that tracks his every move.
Whether training in Kiev or at the Boxing Laboratory in Oxnard, California, Loma spends so much time perfecting his footwork that he exhausts and dispatches trainers and boxing boots almost as quickly as his opponents.
The fighters lucky enough to share practice rounds with him say it feels like facing four men at once and being slowly dragged into deep water and drowned.
Campbell is two inches taller, with a six-inch reach advantage and is planning to weigh considerably more than the 9st 9lb limit he must make on Friday. So Loma has been sparring guys that are even bigger and taller than him, to help him take another step closer to his undisputed target.
The Hull hero insists – rather unbelievably – that he has not studied Lomachenko but the Ukrainian admits to spending hours learning every punch, move and feint in the Brit’s armoury. Time will tell whose tactics work best.
Loma’s promoter Bob Arum, who guided some of Muhammad Ali’s career, believes Loma might just surpass him as the sports greatest pioneer. But his low-key personality might not help him transcend the sport in the way Ali’s charisma and civil rights activism did.
Instead, boxing fans can keep their little secret to themselves while Loma’s rivals and the following generations of fighters can continue trying to mimic the training methods and skills of a true one-off.
