Richard Commey has a portion of the word lightweight title around his waist and pound-for-pound king (in the opinion of most) Vasyl Lomachenko has his next dance partner. Last night, in Frisco, Texas, the man from Accra, Ghana scored three knockdowns in crushing Isa Chaniev inside a couple of rounds to claim the vacant IBF belt. Now 28-2(25) the 31 year old who hails from a place that has produced so many tough and skilled fighters, is now set for the biggest fight of his entire career – an April 12th unification showdown with Ring Magazine/WBA 135 pound ruler Vasyl Lomachenko.
There is a slight concern regrading the short amount of time Commey (who has never been stopped) will have before fighting the pound-for-pound best, in that the new IBF champ hurt his right hand in the short fight last night. Commey will have an X-Ray and hopefully everything will be okay for him. A good deal of people, Bob Arum and Lou DiBella among them, feel Commey, with his height (he stands an impressive 5’9”), size, strength and punching power, might give Lomachenko a very tough time of things.
Lomachenko struggled, at least somewhat, with big lightweight Jorge Linares, even being knocked down during the entertaining May 2018 fight, and the tough Commey might have some major success himself. It promises to be a most interesting fight on April 12th.
Commey, who has now boxed in the U.S on five occasions, came up short in an earlier challenge for the IBF belt he now wears, when he was beaten via close split decision by Robert Easter back in September of 2016. In his very next fight, Commey dropped another split decision, this one to Denis Shafikov in Moscow. Now winner of his last four and a champ at last, Commey is aiming to score a huge sensation in just over two months’ time.
Lomachenko is ready for this, perhaps his toughest challenge to date. A hard, perhaps gruelling distance fight does seem to be a good bet with this one. Maybe we will see Commey bring out the absolute best in the man known as “Hi-Tech?”