Lomachenko seeks place in boxing history with Linares fight

Vasyl Lomachenko believes Jorge Linares is the type of opponent he needs in order to put his name in boxing history, while admitting to growing frustrated at his lack of recognition.

After winning Olympic gold at featherweight and lightweight in his amateur career, Lomachenko has enjoyed a brief but brilliant spell in the professional ranks.

Lomachenko won the WBO featherweight title in just his third fight in 2014 and defeated Roman Martinez in 2016 to claim the WBO super featherweight belt, becoming the fastest two-weight world champion in boxing history.

Victory over Linares at Madison Square Garden on May 12 will see Lomachenko become a three-weight world champion just 12 fights into his career.

But Lomachenko has been disappointed by the little global acclaim he has received and the inability of his opponents to avoid throwing in the towel.

His win over Guillermo Rigondeaux in December marked the fourth successive fight in which Lomachenko has seen his opponent retire, the Cuban calling it quits in the sixth round, leading the Ukrainian to joke that he should be nicknamed "No Mas Chenko".

However, Lomachenko is hopeful he will be able to put both those frustrations to bed against Linares.

"I'll be honest, I'm getting a bit frustrated. Every fighter thinks about their legacy and I'm not any different," Lomachenko said of the paucity of praise for his achievements in quotes reported by The Guardian.

"I got frustrated at the ending of the Rigondeaux fight. I didn't get an opportunity to finish what I had started and that's hard.

"Linares is a very dangerous fight. I consider him a very good fighter. He has speed, coordination and, most crucially, a great boxing IQ.

"He's on the very top level and he's the kind of fighter I really want to face if I expect to put my name in the history of boxing."