Why Vasiliy Lomachenko stands on cusp of greatness, analysis, background, Vasiliy Lomachenko v George Kambosos, when is it, how to watch, latest, updates – MASHAHER

So how much is still left in those hands Vasiliy Lomachenko uses to walk himself, upside down, from one corner of a boxing ring to the other.

Hands that have done plenty more, too.

Just ask Guillermo Rigondeaux.

Or Jorge Linares.

Boxing: Lomachenko v Kambosos IBF Lightweight World Title Fight | MON 12 MAY 12PM AEST | Order Now with Main Event on Kayo Sports.

Hell, go ask any of the more than 400 men this Ukranian megastar has beaten on his way to becoming one of the greatest fighters of this and any era.

A fella, remember, who needed only three professional fights to win himself a world title.

Yep, three.

Just as he boasts two Olympic golds, three weight classes with championship straps and, at his peak, comparisons to no less than Muhammad Ali.

Which, of course, isn’t the same man readying to throw down in Australia right now.

No, this Loma is 36.

An old man.

Which just to clarify, aren’t our words but those the fighter himself used when speaking with Fox Sports Australia this week.

Same as the legend readying to throw down for the IBF lightweight crown against George Kambosos openly admits to being not only increasingly sore after fights, but unsure of how many he has left.

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Indeed, Lomachenko is innately aware of how even future Hall of Famers like himself have been known to grow old not simply in fights, but between rounds.

Truly, it happens that quick.

Which, undeniably, is one of the biggest storylines coming into Sunday afternoon’s blockbuster at a sold out RAC Arena.

Will this be something akin to Don Bradman being bowled for a globe in his last Test innings? Or does the man dubbed ‘Matrix’ have enough left to wow fans again.

Certainly the bookies think so of the $1.14 favourite.

With Kambosos, meanwhile, as wide as six bucks with some.

Yet this is the same Aussie, remember, who has stunned world boxing before.

And is now saying all the right things about doing it again.

Yet to get there, Kambosos will have to beat the man who, with a smile, will tell you that, yes, he still has something left in the tank.

Even if only for Sunday.

Which is why, despite Kambosos being younger, a winner more recently, and even fighting in his own backyard, he remains an underdog in every sense.

Yes, a win will send ‘Ferocious’ to the Boxing Hall of Fame.

That, and put him in discussions for Australia’s greatest fighter ever.

But what if this is a Lomachenko story?

Certainly that’s worth the price of admission itself.

To see, first hand, one of the modern era’s true greats squeezing out that little bit more.

Or maybe the old man is foxing entirely.

Maybe Lomachenko still has enough left to not only fight on for years, but unify at lightweight.

With even his promoter Bob Arum this week suggesting that, in victory, no less than Shakur Stevenson will be next.

Which is undeniably enticing.

And brings us back to those hands which, two or three times a year, when not used for juggling, horseriding, volleyball, ice hockey, defending his country or walking himself upside from one side of a ring to the other, are beating up some of the most dangerous men on earth.

Hands, too, that were first placed inside gloves when Lomachenko was just three days old.

Yep, again, three.

With little baby Loma laced up by that father and trainer, Anatoly, whose image now adorns his rippled torso.

All of which sounds slightly, err, extreme, right?

Yet Lomachenko is a fella for whom the extraordinary has always been anything but.

A truth proved by the fact that while you and I can hold our breath underwater for about 60 seconds, give or take, Loma’s PB is closer to five minutes.

Same as he plays football well enough, apparently, for his manager to once tell Sports Illustrated: “We can put Vasiliy in the world’s biggest soccer stadium and he’d be fine”.

Here is a fighter who, before turning pro had an amateur record that read 396-1.

And with the one being a fighter, it has been written, he then rematched and beat twice, just to confirm himself the better man.

Same as on the eve of turning professional in 2013, Lomachenko had only one message for the long list of potential suitors wishing to promote him.

“Which of you can get me a world title on debut?” he asked.

Which, you should know, was nobody.

Although Top Rank’s Bob Arum, he came closest.

And got the gig.

Which is how Lomachenko not only fought for gold in just his second professional appearance — losing in controversial circumstances — but then claimed a WBO featherweight crown in his third.

Same as in a dozen fights, he’d claimed three world titles.

That, and what remains one of the greatest lines ever delivered by Arum, whose own career goes all the way back to those days he promoted Ali himself.

“I’ve never seen a fighter as technically perfect as Vasiliy,” the promoter famously said at the fighter’s peak.

“I am telling you without any reservation that Lomachenko is the greatest fighter I have seen since Muhammad Ali”.

And now Sunday he throws down in Perth.

This fighter from Bilhorod-Dnistrovsky, a small town on the Black Sea in Ukraine, who despite being right-handed, was taught by the old man, because of the advantages it would bring, to fight in the southpaw stance.

A fella who, aged nine, was also made by dad to drop the gloves for what would be four straight years of traditional Ukrainian dancing lessons.

A decision, the old man has said since, which is responsible for the now signature footwork that has seen him, continuously when in the ring, hit while not getting the same back.

In Loma, you also have a fighter who has not only proven seemingly peerless in hand speed, timing, accuracy, but also creativity and boxing IQ.

Indeed, this is a fighter who, in the build up to headliners, and after extremely physical sessions, has been known to then go and complete maths puzzles pinned to a board in his gym.

Among them, re-ordering grids of random numbers while his sports psychologist watches on, keeping time with a stopwatch

Another is to delicately balance wooden blocks, end on end, with his hands.

Those same hands that, early on, his father taught him to walk on as a way of building strength.

Hands that not earned the greatest amateur resume ever assembled, or have amassed all sorts of world titles, but have also made him one of the most known fighting men anywhere on the planet.

Hands too that on Sunday afternoon, will be facing both Ferocious and Father Time.