Can Vasyl Lomachenko emerge as a true boxing superstar?

In front of more than 10,000 enthusiastic fans at Madison Square Garden, Vasyl Lomachenko (11-1, 9 KOs) battled back from the first knockdown of his professional career to stop Jorge Linares (44-4, 27 KOs) in the 10th round, making him the fastest in boxing history to win world titles in three divisions. It was a thrilling, high-level contest that lived up to the hype and appears to have been a ratings hit for ESPN.

It’s hard to deny Lomachenko’s case as the #1 pound-for-pound boxer in the world. Not only does he possess unique and otherworldly skills in every facet of the sport, but his professional resume is filled with top contenders, former champions, and even a current champion in Gary Russell Jr. I only noted professional, because he’s a two-time Olympic gold medalist with a reported amateur record of 396-1.

If there was palpable disappointment with the anticlimactic ending to Lomachenko vs. fellow two-time gold medalist Guillermo Rigondeaux — a fight that drew better ratings than did Loma vs. Linares — Saturday night should’ve been a superstar-making performance from the Ukrainian. Emphasis on should’ve been.

As MMA fans surely know all too well with Demetrious Johnson, being dominant and widely considered the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world — and in Johnson’s case, possibly the greatest mixed martial artist of all-time — is no guarantee you’re going to become a prolific draw. Even though he’s never headlined a pay-per-view card, I don’t think it’s off-base to say that Lomachenko is a more prominent name than DJ, and it also helps that he has a strong Ukrainian contingent behind him.

The question now becomes, “How much bigger can Lomamania get?” He’s been one of the featured names under Top Rank Boxing’s broadcast deal with ESPN, but in the combat sports world (under the current model as we know it), the leading metric for measuring star power is how many PPVs you sell in North America or the United Kingdom. With that said, I consider the definition of stardom to be multi-layered, much like separating an A-list actor from a B-list actor in Hollywood. There are the mega-stars who transcend the sport and become mainstream names, and there are stars who aren’t worth a lick on pay-per-view but are extremely valuable on cable or subscription television.

For a simplified example, I’ve broken it down into the following categories: