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After years being in each other's orbit without facing off in the ring, Vasily Lomachenko and George Kambosos met on Saturday in Perth, Australia with the vacant IBF lightweight title on the line. After dominating the fight with pure boxing technique, Lomachenko dropped Kambosos twice with body shots before scoring a TKO in Round 11. The gulf in technique between the two was clear from the opening moments of the fight, with Kambosos chasing, but never catching, Lomachenko. The Ukrainian struck early and often with clean combinations and heavy left hands. Even in his best rounds, Kambosos couldn't land 10 or more punches, with Lomachenko easily controlling the distance and determining the moments in which they would engage offensively. When those moments came, Lomachenko would throw a slick combination, cut an angle and slide out of range without taking return first. As the fight hit the second half, Lomachenko began to focus more of his attack toward the body. That paid off in Round 11, with a cracking left to the liver resulting in Kambosos taking a few steps backward before taking a knee. Kambosos beat the referee's count but the following Lomachenko blitz, including two more body shots, forced him to the ground again, at which point Kambosos' corner threw in the towel. The stoppage came at the 2:49 mark of Round 11. “My plan was to adjust to my opponent,“ Lomachenko said after the fight. “This is what I did in the fight. Toward the end of the rounds I needed to finish strong. In the last three rounds, I was trying to find his body.“ Kambosos had nothing but respect for Lomachenko after the loss, touting his own refusal to look for easy fights. “He's one of the best fighters in history,“ Kambosos said. “I'm not ashamed. I wanted to finish the fight on the feet, I really did.“ After the win, Lomachenko was asked about WBA lightweight champion Gervonta “Tank“ Davis' tweet that he wanted to handle his business in his upcoming fight with Frank Martin before a bout with Lomachenko. “You know, during my boxing career I never ran around,“ Lomachenko said. “I always take the fight. Right now, I want to come back to my home, spend time with my family and then we can talk about the future.“ The undercard saw a pair of new champions crowned. Cherneka Johnson unseated Nina Hughes as WBA bantamweight champion with a majority decision in their 10-round bout. Plus, Pedro Guevara eked out a decision over Andrew Moloney to claim the interim WBC junior bantamweight title -- a result Moloney immediately disputed and claimed he would retire as a result. “I felt in total control. I did what I had to do in there tonight to get the win,“ Moloney said. “I don't want to make excuses, but I went into this fight with a torn biceps, so I couldn't throw the left hook unless I needed to. I didn't feel like I needed to throw it because I was in total control. “
