Who is: Vasyl Lomachenko?

 Two-time Ukrainian Olympic gold medalist and 2013 Prospect of the Year VASYL LOMACHENKO (1-0, 1 KO), is in a hurry to make his mark, and in only his second professional fight, he will be challenging three-time world featherweight champion ORLANDO “Siri” SALIDO for Salido’s World Boxing Organization (WBO) featherweight title.  The Salido-Lomachenko world championship fight will be televised live from the Alamodome, Saturday, March 1, on HBO World Championship Boxing, beginning at 9:45 p.m. ET/PT.  The telecast will also feature the eagerly-anticipated 12-round rematch between former World Boxing Council (WBC) middleweight champion and Son of the Legend JULIO CÉSAR CHÁVEZ JR. and Top-Five contender and two-fisted Texan BRYAN VERA.

Who is:  Vasyl Lomachenko (LOMACZENKO)

Born: 17 February 1988 Bilhorod, Odessa, Ukraine

Residence: Marina del Rey California

Height: 5’6 ½”  169cm

Division: Feather

Stance: Southpaw

Amateur:

Ukrainian champion 2008/09/10/11

2004 Gold medal European Cadets 46kg

2005 Gold medal Trestin Memorial Tournament 51kg

2006 Gold medal Trestin Memorial  Tournament 57kg

2006 Gold medal World Junior Championships 51kg

2007 Gold medal Trestin Memorial Tournament 57kg

2007 Silver medal World Championships 57kg (lost to Albert Selimov)

2008 Gold medal Klitschko Brother Tournament 57kg

2008 Gold medal Olympic Games 57kg. Won Val Barker Trophy as the best boxer in the Olympics and beat Selimov in the 1^st Series

2008 Gold medal European Championships 57kg

2009 Gold medal European Students Championships

2009 Gold Medal Makar Mazay Memorial Tournament 60kg           —

2009 Gold medal World Championships 57kg

2010 Gold medal Presidents Cup 60kg

2011 Gold medal Makar Mazay Tournament 60kg,

2011 Gold medal Nikolay Manger Tournament 64kg

2011 Gold medal World Championships 57kg

2012 Gold medal Nikolay Manger Memorial Tournament 64kg

2012 Gold medal Olympic Games 60kg,

Turned pro: 12 October 2013

Pro Titles: WBO International

Current rating(s): WBO 5

Significant results: Jose Ramirez (25-3) W KO 4

General Information:  Trained by his father Anatoly as an amateur. He wanted to play hockey but as his father was a boxing coach so he took up boxing instead. He is naturally right handed but when he started boxing his father set him up as a southpaw and he has stayed that way. His mother was a gymnastics teacher and his sister is a gymnast. He is married with two children a son and a daughter. He has had close to 400 amateur fights losing only to Albert Selimov in the finals of the 2007 World Championships and gained revenge by beating Selimov at the 2008 Olympics (I did find a reference to another loss but when I checked it was a loss on a medical walk over so he did not fight). If he beats Omar Salido he will set a record by winning a world title in only his second professional fight. The current record is held by Thai Saensak Muangsurin who won the WBC light welterweight title in July 1975 in his third professional fight having previously been a top kick boxer.