Vasyl Lomachenko urging opponent's corner to stop fight is still so surreal

Vasyl Lomachenko went toe-to-toe with Richard Commey at the back end of 2021, with the pair enjoying a December showdown at Madison Square Garden.

It saw a two-time Olympic champion take on a fighter looking to progress in the lightweight division which was becoming more and more crowded.

Not many gave the Ghanaian a chance, with Lomachenko a heavy favourite for the fight before they stepped in the ring together.

As expected, it was a relatively one sided bout, with Lomachenko completely schooling his opponent whilst putting on a masterclass for all those tuning in around the world.

However, it took Lomachenko until the seventh round to finally drop his opponent who he was giving a real savage beating, although he wasn’t out.

Commey managed to get up and keep battling away despite the mauling and saw the fight through to the judges’ scorecards, where unsurprisingly, Lomachenko was victorious, sealing a unanimous decision victory, and rightly so.

When Lomachenko got the knockdown in the seventh round, he pleaded with Commey’s corner to stop the fight out of compassion for his spirited opponent, but they refused and the fight carried on.

To be fair to Commey, the fact he managed to carry on till the final bell shows how determined he was to put on a good fight and try and salvage it for himself.

The Ukrainian continued with the brutal beating of his opponent after the request were ignored, ensuring he secured a victory for himself.

Lomachenko was gracious in victory, commenting on the resilience shown by his opponent: “I saw his situation. It was very hard for him. That’s why I said, ‘Hey, stop the fight’. But he’s a true warrior, he has heart, and we continued and we showed 12 great rounds.”

Commey’s trainer, Andre Rozier