Malignaggi Pays Tribute to Loma: “He Called Out Only the Best”

Former world champion Paulie Malignaggi paid tribute to three-division world champion Vasyl Lomachenko, who recently announced his retirement from professional boxing.

“What’s important is that he went beyond the standard. You also have to take into account that he turned pro late due to his amateur career — and despite that, he still became a world champion in three weight classes. That’s more than most boxers who go pro at 19 ever achieve.

He didn’t waste time on 15 tune-up fights against opponents given to prospects for development. He didn’t want that. He was ready — and he knew it. He said, ‘I’m already a complete fighter, I can go straight in against world champions.’ That matters. Because some people want to see 40 fights on a résumé, but most of them are just filler.

When we talk about Hall of Fame careers, I think amateur accomplishments should count, too. Look at someone like Teofilo Stevenson — he was a great boxer in the '70s, even though he never turned pro. You can’t ignore those achievements. And with Lomachenko, who was outstanding in the amateurs and achieved incredible things in the pros — the full picture is genuinely impressive.

I think the generation of boxers who came out of the Soviet Union is coming to an end. Lomachenko was born in the Soviet Union — in 1988. Many fighters from that era either never turned pro, or did so very late.

Take the boxer who beat Gennady Golovkin in the 2004 Olympic final — Gaydarbek Gaydarbekov. He never turned pro. Or Oleg Saitov, a two-time Olympic champion — he didn’t go pro either.

Even after the USSR collapsed, the mentality remained — most stayed in the amateurs. And those who did turn pro, did it late, like Lomachenko.

But now we see the shift — the new generation is turning pro at 19 or 20. They’ll be the ones with 40-fight careers.

But the style of Lomachenko’s generation is likely ending. There was a time when turning pro wasn’t allowed, then it was allowed but people didn’t know how it worked. Now it’s the norm.

That’s why I don’t think Loma should be criticized for not having a long pro career. What he did in that time — it’s impressive.

As for his losses — the only one that was fully deserved was against Teofimo Lopez. But overall, he always chose the toughest fights, even when it worked against him.

He didn’t try, like many Western boxers, to chase big names who were already past their prime just to pad his résumé. He went after guys in their prime, at their best. Remember when he called out Nicholas Walters, who was destroying people back then? Loma said, ‘I want that fight.’

The only exception might be the fight with Guillermo Rigondeaux. But even then, he didn’t chase that bout. Afterwards he said himself, ‘They just gave me the fight.’

Nobody wanted to fight Rigo back then. He needed a fight, so they made it with Lomachenko.

Even Vasyl admitted after the bout: ‘He was too small. What was I supposed to do? I did what I had to do.’

But overall, he didn’t look for easy paths. He called out the best. And that is an example for everyone,” said Malignaggi.