Getty Vasiliy Lomachenko and Richard Commey.
Boxing lightweights Vasiliy Lomachenko and Richard Commey will square off at New York City’s Madison Square Garden on Saturday night.
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In the US, the main card (9 p.m. ET start time) will be televised on ESPN, but if you don’t have cable, you can watch a live stream of both the prelims (not televised, 5:30 p.m. ET start time) and the main card on ESPN+ right here:
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Once signed up for ESPN+, you can watch Lomachenko vs Commey live on the ESPN app on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Firestick, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation 4 or 5, Xbox One or Series X/S, any device with Android TV (such as a Sony TV or Nvidia Shield), Samsung Smart TV, Oculus Go, iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet.
You can also watch on your computer via ESPN.com.
Lomachenko vs Commey Preview
Lomachenko (15-2, 11 KOs) was halfway to his dream of becoming the lightweight division’s undisputed champion — he held the WBO and WBA belts — before falling to Teófimo López via unanimous decision in an attempt to take the American’s IBF title in October 2020.
“I have a dream, be undisputed world champion. I failed to fulfill my dream,” Lomachenko recently told ESPN, adding: “I failed the first time, but now I have one more chance. And I go to bed with my dream, I wake up with my dream, I live with my goal. So this fight is the next step to my goal.”
Eight months after falling to López, the Ukrainian rebounded with a ninth-round TKO of Japan’s Masayoshi Nakatani. Lomachenko noted in his ESPN interview that Commey poses a greater challenge.
“He understands boxing more,” he said. “He’s more technical if you compare him with Nakatani. He has more power than Nakatani.”
The 33-year-old recalled his first and only defeat as an amateur boxer, to Russian favorite Albert Selimov in the featherweight final of the 2007 amateur world championships. Lomachenko would go on to avenge that defeat twice en route to a 396-1 amateur record.
“In my head it’s the same situation when I was an amateur in 2007,” he said, per ESPN. “Then I lost my first bout to Albert Selimov in the World Championship. It was in Chicago. I lose that fight, but then I come back. I live with this moment, because I had never lost before and it was a big, big shock for me. I always remember that moment, and that moment pushed me to continue. It’s the same situation now. And now I have one more chance.”
Commey (30-3, 27 KOs) is also one fight removed from a defeat at the hands of López — in December 2019, he surrendered the very IBF strap that Lomachenko would fail to secure 10 months later, succumbing to López via second-round TKO.
The Ghanaian, now 34, rebounded with a sixth-round knockout of Jackson Marinez of the Dominican Repbulic in February 2021.
“I know it’s not an easy fight, but I’m coming,” Commey said of the scrap with Lomachenko, according to Sky Sports.
“Losing is part of boxing, so regardless of how you lose, it’s all about coming back. So whatever happened with the Lopez fight, it is what it is and I took it as a man.
“I knew I needed to come back and I came back very strong, and that is the reason why Loma chose me, and Saturday we are going to see what happens.”