Vasyl Lomachenko looks to claim pound-for-pound title April 8 against Jason Sosa

Vasyl Lomachenko can solidify his status as boxing’s pound-for-pound king on April 8 against Jason Sosa with an impressive victory.

Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez lost more than his WBO flyweight title to Srisaket Sor Rungvisai on March 18. He opened the door for Vasyl Lomachenko (7-1, 5 KOs) to stake claim to boxing’s most coveted championship: the mythical pound-for-pound title.

Lomachenko squares off against Jason Sosa (20-1-4, 15 KOs) on Saturday, April 8 at the MGM National Harbor in Maryland. They will be fighting for Lomachenko’s World Boxing Organization Super Featherweight belt.

First and foremost, Lomachenko, the two-division world champion, has more at stake in this fight than a defense of his world title. He has the opportunity to show the world that after only eight fights as professional — which include one loss, at the hands of Orlando Salido in 2014 in just his second professional bout — he is worthy of being crowned as the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

Although arguments can be made for Andre Ward and Terence Crawford, the boxing insider and fan consensus is that Lomachenko is a special fighter. At 29 years old, don’t let the 7-1 record fool you. The two-time, two-division Olympic Gold medalist from the Beijing (2008) and London (2012) games might be the greatest amateur boxer of all time. His amateur career ended with a 396-1 record, and he avenged his lone loss to Albert Selimov twice.

Lomachenko is coming off a November win over Nicholas Walters in which Walters quit in the seventh round. Lomachenko has superb balance, stellar defense and an offense that relies on quickness, speed and power. This is what makes him a complete package.

Jason Sosa has won five of his last six fights. He’s coming off a November win over Stephen Smith. Sosa has power in the super featherweight division.  Fourteen out of his last 15 victories have ended in a knockout. Sosa is is a tough competitor and won’t hesitate to trade punches with Lomachenko. Despite his knockout loss to Tre’Sean Wiggins in 2010, Sosa has proven he can take a punch.

Lomachenko can close the door on this discussion with a solid performance on April 8. For this reason, Sosa’s aggressive style might be exactly what Lomachenko needs to illustrate his complete skillset as a boxer-puncher.

Next: Golden Boy distances Canelo from GGG

Above all, expect an exciting fight with Lomachenko putting an exclamation point on his quest to be the pound for pound king.