Vasyl Lomachenko beats Jose Pedraza as Isaac Dogboe loses belt to Emanuel Navarrete

NEW YORK: Vasyl Anatoliyovich Lomachenko the Ukrainian professional boxer took Jose Pedraza’s (Puerto Rican boxer) WBO lightweight belt with a unanimous points victory at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Vasyl Lomachenko knocked down Jose Pedraza twice in round 11 on the way to securing WBA title.

This was the 13th professional fight of the 30 year old Vasyl Anatoliyovich Lomachenko.

On the undercard, London-based Ghanaian Isaac Dogboe lost his WBO super-bantamweight title to Mexico’s Emanuel Navarrete.

“I am happy,” he said. “I moved a little closer to my dream, to my goal.”

Following his win – which judges scored 117-109, 117-109 and 119-107 – he said he was now targeting unbeaten WBC champion Mikey Garcia.

“Two more belts, and maybe we can make in the next year a fight with Mikey Garcia,” he said.

Lomachenko’s victory also came after surgery on his shoulder following the Linares fight.

Dogboe, 24, was making the second defence of his title but came up against an opponent with a height and reach advantage – and who used it to good effect – with two judges scoring it 116-112 and a third making it 115-113.

“It’s unfortunate that I’m not leaving here with the title but he’s taught me a lesson,” Dogboe said, “Next time I’ve got to work extra hard and do what I did previously, maintain the hunger I had before we captured the title.”

Lomachenko became the fastest three-weight world champion in history by stopping Jorge Linares in his 12th professional fight in May, having held world titles at featherweight and super-featherweight.