Vasiliy Lomachenko has called for a rematch with Teofimo Lopez after impressing on his return to the ring with a ninth round stoppage of Masayoshi Nakatani on Saturday night.
Lomachenko suffered a points to Lopez last October in a unified lightweight title bout, but the Ukrainian responded in emphatic style against Japan's Nakatani in Las Vegas.
The former three-weight world champion dropped Nakatani in the fifth round before forcing the stoppage in the ninth to complete a clinical performance.
It was Lomachenko's first non-world title fight since his first professional bout and the Ukrainian is clearly in no mood to wait for another shot at the belts and wants redemption against Lopez.
The unbeaten American first needs to defend his WBA, WBO, and IBF belts against IBF mandatory challenger George Kambosos Jr on August 14 in Miami.
"Everybody saw me, everybody saw how I won and everybody has been waiting for the rematch, so let's make a rematch," said Lomachenko, whose professional record now reads 15-2-0.
"He has a fight in the future with Kambosos but after, how about after? December, January, February. I am waiting."
Lomachenko revealed that he chose Nakatani as his opponent because the Japanese fighter went the full 12 rounds with Lopez in what was his only other professional defeat.
While the fight ultimately turned out to be straightforward for Lomachecnko, he did need to ride out some early adversity after an accidental clash of heads caused a large cut. But that proved a minor obstacle as Lomachenko soon found his range.
He first had Nakatani in trouble after a rapid left hand had his opponent rattled at the end of the second round and delivered another clean left in the third. Lomachenko then sent Nakatani to the canvas in the fifth round following a flurry of punches and it became a matter of survival, until the Japanese's resistance ended four rounds later.
Davis delivers stoppage in Atlanta
At a similar time on Saturday night in Atlanta, Gervonta Davis delivered his own knockout victory to claim the WBA 'regular' super-lightweight title - but not before a few stern words from mentor Floyd Mayweather Jr in his corner.
Davis knocked down Mario Barrios twice in the eighth round, but following the ninth Mayweather told his fighter that he was trailing on the scorecards. Davis responded by finishing Barrios with an explosive finish in the 11th round.
The unbeaten American had struggled with Barrios' height and reach advantage but his destructive power was soon on display as he broke down his opponent.
"I made it tough. I definitely could have made it easier but it is what it is," said the WBA super featherweight champion. "I went up two weight classes and I got the job done."
