Tuesday 9 April 2019 17:16, UK
Where will Vasyl Lomachenko, who fights Anthony Crolla on Saturday morning, feature in Johnny Nelson’s top five pound-for-pound boxers?
The brilliant Lomachenko puts his WBA and WBO lightweight titles on the line against Crolla at 3am on Saturday morning, live on Sky Sports Main Event.
But he's not the world's best boxer, according to Nelson…
Crawford is like a surgeon, who can punch, and who can box. Against Amir Khan, who has some of the fastest hands in the sport, we're going to see how he deals with that. It might change my mind, but so far he's done little wrong.
There's some massive fights at welterweight such as Errol Spence Jr, Keith Thurman and Manny Pacquiao that will bring even more out of him. The bigger the challenge, the more we'll see.
There's something about him that excites me. When you think it's going to be a tough fight for him, he surprises everyone with his speed, his class, and he's a good finisher. We have only just scratched the surface with him.
He's 24 years old, he's got a lot of growing to do, but he will get even better. It depends on which direction he wants to go, for the size of him, and how he navigates through his next few opponents. I think he can mix it with the very best in the sport, and it's just a matter of time before he becomes top dog.
At 31-years-old, he's only had 13 fights, but he looks like a mini-version of Oleksandr Usyk, and at times, it looks like he doesn't even have to extend himself.
I'm picking guys on technique, I'm not looking at brute force, I'm not looking at crash, bang wallop type of fighters like Mike Tyson. There are those guys out there, but I'm going on what I know, going for what I like, and the art of boxing is to hit and not be hit. Lomachenko has that down to a fine art. He could take that No 1 spot, without a doubt.
Alvarez has improved in every facet. There's a shadow over him, because of the drug suspension, but skill-wise, he's simply brilliant. Every fight he learns, every fight he comes back and you think 'how can Canelo be any better?' And he was.
He seems to be able to adapt like it's a computer game, and he does it perfectly. Alvarez will continue to move up and down the weights, because he can, and look dominant and strong as well. I'm impressed by his speed, the way he reads a fight, and everything about him.
Even seeing him in his seventh professional fight as a sparring partner for Wladimir Klitschko, he caught my eye, I said 'this guy is going to dominate the world'. So far, so good. His demeanour, even though he's 32-years-old, he fights young, he looks young, he's fresh.
He's skilful, a puncher, a mover, the way he reads a fight. His attitude is very matter of fact, but I think we've not even seen a fraction. We could see that at heavyweight. Some heavyweights are humongous, you've got Tyson Fury, Deontay Wilder, and Anthony Joshua, who are big, tall units, so it will be harder to box and look so good against guys like this.
Vasyl Lomachenko defends the WBA and WBO lightweight titles against Anthony Crolla on Saturday morning at 3am, live on Sky Sports Main Event.
