Vasyl Lomachenko earned his tenth straight professional victory on May 12, 2018, with a TKO victory over Jorge Linares to win the WBA and The Ring lightweight titles. It was the eighth straight opponent that Lomachenko, who had previously claimed the WBO international featherweight title, WBO featherweight title, and WBO junior lightweight title, had finished inside of the distance. But despite making easy work of his opponent, Lomachenko did not escape without damage of his own.
In fact, Hi-Tech must now undergo surgery to repair an injury suffered in the win.
According to Dan Rafael of ESPN.com, Lomachenko is set to undergo arthroscopic surgery on a torn labrum in his right shoulder on Wednesday.
Lomachenko told Rafael that he suffered the injury during the second round of the fight. Just how bad was it? The 30-year-old Ukranian boxer says he heard his right shoulder pop out of place before popping it right back in. However, the shoulder gave Lomachenko trouble for the remainder of the bout.
Vasyl Lomachenko Vs. Jorge Linares #TheMatrix Highlights pic.twitter.com/T8UoYWff5l
— UkraineAtamansBoxing (@UkraineAtamans) May 15, 2018
Dr. Neal ElAttrache at the Kerlan Jobe Orthopedic Clinic in Los Angeles confirmed the shoulder dislocation and labrum tear.
“There is clear evidence that he had a recent dislocation of the shoulder, and the most common injury that happens when there is a dislocation is a tear in the labrum,” ElAttrache said. “His is pretty extensive. A typical tear usually goes from about 2 o’clock if you’re looking at the face of a clock down to about 6 o’clock. His goes almost all the way around. I would say he has significant instability of his right shoulder.”
There is no immediate timetable for Lomachenko’s return, but we will update his status with more information as it becomes available.