Two down, two to go.
Vasiliy Lomachenko is halfway to owning all the major lightweight titles after just two fights, and he's already eyeing the guy he'd need to beat to get the next one.
"Of course I want two more belts and maybe we can make next year a fight with Mikey Garcia," Lomachenko said.
Vasiliy Lomachenko poses with the belts after defeating Jose Pedraza in the WBO title lightweight boxing match at Madison Square Garden, Saturday, Dec. 8, 2018, in New York. (AP PhotoHoward Simmons)
He picked up his second lightweight title Saturday night, wearing down Jose Pedraza and winning a unanimous decision at Madison Square Garden.
Lomachenko (12-1) knocked down Pedraza twice in the 11th round and though he couldn't finish him, won easily to add the WBO title to the WBA belt he picked up in May during his first fight at 135 pounds.
The three-division champion unified titles within a division for the first time, after moving up to lightweight in May when he knocked out Jorge Linares in the 10th round.
Vasiliy Lomachenko heads to a neutral corner after a second knockdown of Jose Pedraza in the 11th round of the WBO title lightweight boxing match at Madison Square Garden, Saturday, Dec. 8, 2018, in New York. (AP PhotoHoward Simmons)
"It was my dream to unify titles," Lomachenko said. "It was my next goal. I can now focus on my next chapter."
Lomachenko won one card by a 119-107 rout, while two judges scored it 117-109, as did The Associated Press.
It ended his streak of eight straight victories by stoppage but he came close in the 11th, when Pedraza went to a knee to stop an onslaught of punches with about a half-minute left in the round and then went down again after Lomachenko caught him with a body shot.
In his first fight since right shoulder surgery, Lomachenko started cautiously before finding the range with a flurry of combinations in the latter half of the fight to pull away. He tore the labrum in the second round against Linares but said he had no problems with the shoulder Saturday, even though he threw far more lefts.
"I'm healthy," he said. "One hundred percent."
He certainly looked it for much of the fight and is halfway to a 135-pound sweep. The IBF title is vacant and the WBC version is owned by the unbeaten Garcia, who won't be defending that any time soon while he moves to challenge welterweight champion Errol Spence in March.
So Lomachenko will have to wait for what would be the marquee fight in the division.
Pedraza (25-2) was making the first defense of the belt he won from Ray Beltran in August and the Puerto Rican had some good moments, including in the 10th round when he landed some good body shots and won the round on all three judges' cards. But Lomachenko dominated from there.
"I went 12 rounds with the best fighter in the world," Pedraza said. "I knew what we were going up against. I thought it was a close fight until the knockdowns. At the end of the day, I am proud of what I did."
It was Lomachenko's third straight fight at Madison Square Garden, this one in front of a sellout crowd of 5,312 in the smaller Theater that was filled with Ukrainian flags while the Knicks and Nets played upstairs in the main arena.
The 30-year-old Lomachenko had said the break while rehabbing the surgery may have helped him after nearly 400 amateur bouts before his pro career, and it appeared at times early he was looking for ring work. He was content to focus on defending for large parts of the rounds before letting go of his punches and it wasn't until later in the fight when he started unleashing his sharpest combinations.
Teofimo Lopez, a 2016 Olympian, scored a quick and devastating knockout of Mason Menard in another lightweight fight on the undercard.
Lopez (11-0, 9 KOs) appeared to hurt Menard (34-4) with his very first punch and it didn't take him long from there to end it with a roundhouse right near the left ear that momentarily froze Menard with his left arm limp before he fell straight forward onto his face. Referee Charlie Fitch quickly abandoned his count when it was clear Menard wouldn't get up and the fight was over after just 44 seconds.
Lopez then did a backflip and shortly after Oklahoma's Kyler Murray won the Heisman Trophy across town, slipped into his Sooners No. 1 jersey and did a Heisman pose.
Lopez then guaranteed he would become a world champion in 2019.
"We're in the stage of my career where we can change boxing and bring it back," he said. "You all haven't seen anything like me in a long time."
Also, Mexican Emanuel Navarrete won the WBO junior featherweight title by beating Isaac Dogboe by unanimous decision.
Navarrete (26-1) said he hurt his hand early in the fight but it never showed, as he kept coming forward and Dogboe (20-1) couldn't keep him away. Navarrete won by scores of 116-112 on two cards and 115-113 on the other.
"This world championship represents every day that I was working away from my family," Navarrete said. "This title represents sacrifice."
Dogboe's eyes began swelling early in the fight and his face was bloodied toward the end, but he was never knocked down and rallied well at times after being examined by ringside physicians between rounds.
"It was a great fight, and Emanuel Navarrete fought like a true Mexican warrior," Dogboe said. "Champions are supposed to keep going under any circumstance, but I just couldn't get the victory. The best man won tonight."
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MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza originally planned on going to Yale, which pulled out all the stops during his recruiting visit five years ago.
Among the ploys the Bulldogs used that day: a nod to their history, including how Larry Kelly and Clint Frank won the Heisman Trophy for Yale in 1936 and 1937, respectively. Mendoza won the Heisman this season.
Mendoza and Yale's history are now colliding again.
Yale is the only major college football team to finish a season 16-0, pulling that off in 1894. Indiana can do the same if it wins the College Football Playoff national championship on Jan. 19 against Miami — Mendoza's hometown team.
Other teams have gone 16-0, albeit not at the highest level of college football.
North Dakota State did it on the way to the FCS national championship in 2019, and Ferris State did it this season to win the Division II national title. Montana State had a shot at 16-0 last season at the FCS level — but lost the national championship game to North Dakota State.
A look at some key stats surrounding Indiana and Miami:
1 and 3 — The number of fumbles lost by these teams; one for Indiana, three for Miami. Indiana is one of only two teams with one lost fumble this season (UConn is the other) and the Hurricanes are tied for seventh best nationally.
237 and 236 — An odd coincidence. Indiana has outscored teams by 237 points in the first half of games this season (second best nationally behind Texas Tech's 256). The Hoosiers have outscored teams by 236 points in the second half; that's No. 1 nationally.
47 and 45 — Miami leads the nation with 47 quarterback sacks this season. Indiana is tied with Oklahoma for second with 45.
25 — Miami has averaged 33:42 of time of possession this season. Indiana is a mere 25 seconds less, 33:17. Both teams rank in the top six nationally.
No team has ever finished a season 8-0 against AP-ranked opponents. Miami has a chance to change that.
The Hurricanes have beaten seven ranked teams this season (rankings at time of game): No. 6 Notre Dame 27-24, No. 18 South Florida 49-12, No. 18 Florida State 28-22, No. 24 Pitt 38-7, No. 7 Texas A&M 10-3, No. 3 Ohio State 24-14 and No. 6 Mississippi 31-27.
Indiana enters the title game ranked No. 1.
Thanks to the advent of a playoff, the season is longer now than what the norm was in college football for decades, so there are more opportunities to play games — and at this time of year, games against ranked teams.
But only three teams have finished with at least eight wins in a season over AP-ranked teams: Alabama went 9-1 in 2016, Alabama went 8-1 in 2015 and LSU went 8-1 in 2011.
Miami could be the third team to beat six top-10 teams in a season: LSU went 7-0 against teams ranked 10th or higher in 2019 and Ohio State went 6-1 in such games last season.
And Miami also has a chance for a 10th win all-time over a No. 1 team. The Hurricanes are 9-10 in such games; only Alabama (12-7) has more wins all-time over an AP No. 1.
Fernando Mendoza has played 15 games at Indiana. He already is up to sixth on the Hoosiers’ career passing touchdown list.
Mendoza has thrown for 41 TDs this season, one behind Antwaan Randle El and Peyton Ramsey — tied for fourth with 42 in their years as Hoosiers. Ben Chappell is third with 45, Kellen Lewis second with 48 and Nate Sudfeld the all-time Indiana leader with 61.
The most by any Indiana quarterback in a single season, before now, was 29 by Kurtis Rourke last year.
Among the Indiana quarterbacks with more than 300 passing attempts, Mendoza is the all-time leader in completion percentage at 73.0%. He’d have to misfire on his first 19 passes against Miami to see that percentage fall below Rourke’s 69.4% clip.
Miami's Malachi Toney is one catch away from being the first Hurricanes receiver to reach 100 grabs in a season. The previous school single-season mark was 85 by Xavier Restrepo in 2023.
A reminder: Toney was 17 when this season started and should be in his senior year of high school.
Toney is fourth nationally in catches this season, behind California's Jacob De Jesus (108), Florida Atlantic's Easton Messer (104) and UConn's Skyler Bell (101).
The winner of the Indiana-Miami game likely will finish the season No. 1 in the final AP Top 25.
The Hoosiers were No. 1 in the most recent poll, taken at the start of the postseason. That is their only appearance at No. 1 in the AP rankings.
Miami has been No. 1 in 68 different AP polls but hasn’t been there since the final poll of the 2002 regular season.
It’s likely no surprise that there is a major discrepancy in the history of the two programs, including:
— Miami has been ranked 551 times to Indiana’s 95.
— Miami has been in the top 5 on 213 occasions to Indiana’s 18.
— The Hoosiers’ current run of 28 consecutive poll appearances is, by far, the longest in Indiana history; there was an 11-poll run overlapping the 2020 and 2021 seasons. Miami’s current run of 33 consecutive poll appearances is the third-longest stretch for the Hurricanes, behind streaks of 162 polls in a row (1985 through 1995) and 107 straight (1999 through 2006).
Miami was 10th in the AP preseason poll, while Indiana was ranked No. 20 to start the season.
It’s been more than a decade since a team started 10th or lower and won the national title. Florida State was 11th to open the 2013 season and Auburn was 22nd to open the 2010 season.
For the 20th time in the last 21 seasons, the preseason No. 1 won’t win the national title. Alabama did it in 2017, the only exception in that span.
Miami has come from relatively far back in the pack to win national championships before. The Hurricanes weren’t ranked until the fifth poll of the 1983 season (it was a top 20 then) and were 10th to start the 1987 season.
Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
Miami players celebrate after winning the Fiesta Bowl NCAA college football playoff semifinal game against Mississippi, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza (15) celebrates after the Peach Bowl NCAA college football playoff semifinal against Oregon, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Miami offensive lineman Markel Bell holds up a trophy after winning the Fiesta Bowl NCAA college football playoff semifinal game against Mississippi, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Indiana wide receiver Elijah Sarratt (13) holds up the trophy after the Peach Bowl NCAA college football playoff semifinal against Oregon, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
