Daily Mail - 28.08.2019

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Daily Mail, Wednesday, August 28, 2019

to that. I have the feeling that every
real Englishman has done boxing
at some point in his life. It is the
making of men, as I have explained
to my son.’
Anatoly Jnr, at seven, has had his
first two fights. ‘Two wins,’ says
Loma. ‘Although my father told
him he scored one as a draw
because it is not good for a young
boy to think things come easily. It
will be his decision whether he goes
on to become a boxer. But if he
does we will help him.’
Apart from us being with our
families, there could have been no
more pleasant way to spend a sun-
kissed Bank Holiday Monday
morning than beside the Thames
with this sporting great chatting
about his unique style. So could
there be a nasty edge to him?
‘All champions have a big ego,’ he
says. ‘I think I am the best pound-
for-pound in the world. Terence
Crawford thinks he is. Canelo Alva-
rez thinks he is. For me Crawford is
second, Alvarez third. Although
none of us accept losing.
‘But you are a journalist, not a
danger to me. Come watch on
Saturday night when the Loma-
Chip will be on my shoulder.’
So where did that come from?
When was it ordained that this dis-
arming 31-year-old would scale
such Elysian heights ‘Before he was
born,’ says Papa Lomachenko.
Not long after Chernobyl, then?

Lomachenko v Campbell is live on
Sky Sports Box Office.

VASYL LOMACHENKO

uses all manner of

training methods

beyond the norm to

hone his boxing skills.

They include:

n Dance classes.

n Sparring with three

partners at same time.

n The Brain Box — a

reaction-testing device

that uses lights.

n Holding his breath

under water for four

and a half minutes.

n 300 keepie-uppies

with a football.

n Juggling (right).

THE MAKING OF A FIGHTING MACHINE

Beast from

the east: the

fearsome

Lomachenko

(above) is a

unified world

champion,

and (left) is

pictured in

April during

his win over

Mancunian

Anthony

Crolla in

LA

GRAHAM

CHADWICK

WHO IS LOMACHENKO?

Vasyl Lomachenko

Nicknames: Hi-Tech/

The Matrix.

Age: 31. Born: Ukraine.

Pro debut: 2013.

Height: 5ft 7in.

CURRENT TITLES

WBA, WBO (Lightweight).

WBO (Jnr Lightweight).

PRO RECORD

396

Lomachenko enjoyed an astonishing

amateur career with 396 wins, which

included gold at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.

He suffered just a single defeat — to Albert

Selimov of Azerbaijan at the 2007 World

Amateur Championships in Chicago.

WINS

13

LOSS

1

KOS

10

WATCHING BRIEF...

VASYL LOMACHENKO v LUKE CAMPBELL

Saturday: 10pm at London’s O 2 Arena.

TV: LIVE on Sky Sports Box Office. Radio: BBC 5 Live.

PREMIER LEAGUE referee chiefs will resist

calls for officials to start using pitch-side

monitors for VAR checks as they fear it

will slow the game down too much.

The video referees came under fire on

Sunday as fans claimed Manchester City

and Tottenham were denied penalties,

with VAR neither overturning the

referees’ decisions nor telling them to

review the incident on their monitors.

But English refereeing organisation

PGMOL are determined not to rush into

any knee-jerk reaction. They will stand

by their current version of VAR, which is

based on minimum interference.

Insiders say PGMOL would rather be

criticised for using the technology too

little than too much, but they are open

to making changes to the system after

they speak with top-flight clubs at a

shareholders’ meeting in September. It

is understood that many clubs are keen

for VAR to be more heavily involved.

City in particular looked hard done by

on Sunday when Bournemouth’s

Jefferson Lerma stood on David Silva’s

foot in the box. Referee Andre Marriner

awarded nothing and VAR Kevin Friend

decided against overruling.

Sportsmail columnist and former

Premier League referee Mark

Clattenburg was amazed that Marriner

was not advised to take a second look at

the incident on his monitor.

‘The main concern is that the referee on

the pitch is not offered another chance

to see subjective incidents,’ Clattenburg

said yesterday. ‘I raised this a while

back. The reason they do not want this is

because they fear it will slow the game.’

There has been considerable surprise

that not a single Premier League

referee has consulted his monitor to

watch a replay of a contentious incident.

REFS ORDERED

NOT TO CHECK

VAR SCREENS

BARCA’S £153m

NEYMAR OFFER

FOOTBALL

SHORTS

BARCELONA have made a £153million

bid to take Neymar back to the Nou

Camp, with Ousmane Dembele

possibly going in the other direction.

A Barcelona delegation held around

four hours of talks with Paris Saint-

Germain officials yesterday.

The fee proposed is to be paid in two

instalments. The parties have so far

failed to reach an agreement

though talks are understood to have

been positive and Neymar is keen to

see the deal go through.

AARON RAMSEY has withdrawn

from the Wales squad for the Euro

2020 qualifying match against

Azerbaijan next month. Ramsey,

28, has not played a full match

since injuring a hamstring playing

for Arsenal in April. He has made

only one appearance off the bench

since his transfer to Juventus.

FANS from Liverpool, Chelsea,

Arsenal and Tottenham are joining

forces to demand action from UEFA

in order to address various problems

experienced by supporters before

last season’s two major European

finals. There was anger among fans

from the Premier League clubs

contesting the Champions League

final in Madrid and Europa League

final in Baku.

÷

÷

Football

EXCLUSIVE By KIERAN GILL