LAS VEGAS -- One fight can change a lot in boxing, a sport in which it's not uncommon to fight only twice a year. In the case of Vasiliy Lomachenko, even six rounds can change a lot.
Seven months ago, Lomachenko (14-2, 10 KOs) was a unified lightweight champion and a universal staple of boxing's pound-for-pound lists. This weekend, as he prepares to face Masayoshi Nakatani (19-1, 13 KOs) in a fight without a single belt on the line in Las Vegas, he faces questions of whether he's still the same at age 33.
If there were -- by some impossible miracle -- a four-man tournament to determine the best lightweight in the world tomorrow, it's conceivable that Lomachenko wouldn't even get an invite.