This Saturday on ESPN from Madison Square Garden in New York Vasyl “Hi-Tech” Lomachenko (10-1, 8KO’s) will be fighting for his third world title in only his twelfth professional fight.  He will be taking on Jorge “El Nino de Oro” Linares (44-3, 27KO’s) for the World Boxing Association (WBA) World Lightweight Title that he won back in September of 2016 from Anthony Crolla. 

Lomachenko, who turned 30 this year, went 3-0 last year while making Jason Sosa, Miguel Marriaga, and Guillermo Rigondeaux all quit on their stools – earning him the nickname “No Mas Chenko”.

Linares, who is 32 years old, will be entering the fight on a 13-fight winning streak dating all the way back to 2012.  During that 13-fight winning streak he had seven knockouts and fought in five different countries.

Both fighters look to be at their physical peaks and that is exactly why this is such an intriguing matchup.  Despite some of the bookies heavily favoring Lomachenko, most boxing pundits see it as a much closer fight considering the fact that Lomachenko will be fighting in an entirely new weight class – one at which Linares is very comfortable and appears to be peaking at.

A lot is on the line for this fight, with many boxing pundits and fans having Lomachenko as the best pound for pound fighter in the world.  Either he can reinforce that claim with a victory over Linares for a new title in a new weight class or Linares can make a claim as the top pound for pound fighter if he can upset the apple cart and live up to what many thought not too long ago was the best potential in boxing.