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Vasyl Lomachenko’s injured hand is not broken

Vasyl Lomachenko has his hand raised after his victory over Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo in their WBO featherweight title fight Nov. 23 in Macao.
(Xaume Olleros / AFP / Getty Images)
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Featherweight world champion Vasyl Lomachenko said an X-ray taken after his fight showed he did not break his left hand as suspected in his one-sided title defense Sunday on the Manny Pacquiao-Chris Algieri undercard.

A two-time Olympic gold medalist from the Ukraine, Lomachenko (3-1) was forced to punch exclusively with his right hand after injuring his left hand in the sixth round.

Lomachenko won by unanimous decision over Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo by scores of 120-107 from all three judges.

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“Somewhere around the sixth round, I hit him with a hard punch … his legs started wobbling, and then I threw more punches and I felt I hit him on a hard part of his body,” Lomachenko said through an interpreter. “I threw a few more, but decided, ‘I can’t throw no more.’ ”

The X-ray showed swelling but no break, a Lomachenko translator said.

Promoter Bob Arum said earlier this week that he wants to put Lomachenko and fellow featherweight world champion Nicholas Walters fighting separate opponents on the same card in the spring, and then match them against each other in the early summer.

“I’m going to cool down, go home, spend some time with my family,” Lomachenko said.

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