Meet the Genius Behind the Success of Vasyl Lomachenko – Anatoly Lomachenko

Boxing’s lightweight division is probably one of the toughest spaces to compete in; from Devin Haney to George Kambosos Jr to Ryan Garcia to Gervonta Davis, there is a threat looming around on every corner for new lightweight prospects. But when it comes to pure skill, talent, and experience, hardly anyone at 135 comes close to Vasyl Lomachenko.

From kicking things off with the junior flyweight European U-17 championship in 2004 to competing in the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and then winning gold at the London Olympics in 2012 to then scaling up and becoming a lightweight champion against Jorge Linares in 2018.

After winning the third belt at 135 pounds against Luke Campbell in 2019, Loma lost his throne to Teofimo Lopez in the subsequent year. Despite this loss, Vasyl Lomachenko is not one to back down from another shot at rising back up to the top.

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With his corner by his side, 33-year-old Lomachenko is now looking to scale new heights in the sport. It would not be very surprising to see him regain his lightweight throne soon. After all, he has a secret weapon that has helped him develop an amateur record of 396 wins and 1 loss over the years – his own father.

Who is Vasyl Lomachenko’s father?

Camera shy Anatoly Lomachenko does not like to be under the spotlight. Even though we don’t see or hear much about ‘Papachenko’, it is extremely important to know who this man really is because he is responsible for not one but two Olympic gold medalists and pro-boxing world champions.

Anatoly Lomachenko had the vision right from the get-go; he wanted to produce a champion from his hometown in Ukraine.

At the time of this proclamation, he was a school teacher and knew that his son had what it takes to inch closer to his vision.

So, at age 4, Vasyl Lomachenko was thrown into the squared circle to fight a 6-year-old. As his son stepped out of the ring with his first-ever win over an older kid, ‘Papachenko’ then envisioned gold medals and world titles in his son’s future. And Vasyl delivered.

Was Anatoly Lomachenko a boxer?

While there is no record available, Anatoly Lomachenko reportedly engaged in multiple amateur contests back when he was much younger. He never really has ever spoken about his own ambitions or goals. However, his son asked him if he valued amateur titles over the Olympic gold, Anatoly replied that the Olympic gold was a much bigger target. And his son fulfilled that dream by winning gold.

Does Anatoly Lomachenko train Oleksandr Usyk?

He has guided his own son towards winning the Olympic gold and the lightweight world championship; however, Anatoly Lomachenko has also trained another icon of the sport, Oleksandr Usyk.

Much like Loma, even Oleksandr Usyk has a phenomenal amateur record of 97 wins and 16 losses. While he has suffered defeat as an amateur, Oleksandr Usyk remains undefeated as a professional.

Usyk has confirmed on multiple occasions that Anatoly Lomachenko is his trainer. Under his guidance and training, Oleksandr Usyk has become an undisputed champion at not one, but two different weight classes – cruiserweight and heavyweight.

He holds his trainer in the highest regards and has a lot of respect for him.

“Lomachenko’s father made this team. He created it. He’s just too humble to say it. But it’s true,” said Usyk’s teammate.

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