So move over Muhammad Ali?

Not for me. At least, not quite yet. 

Loma, as he likes to be labelled, is certainly the greatest of his time. But surely there is more to do before he can be called the greatest of all time.

Some, including his octogenarian American promoter Bob Arum, claim he is the best since Ali. Others, among them Hall of Fame British promoter Frank Warren, reckon he is the best they've seen since Sugar Ray Leonard or even Sugar Ray Robinson.

There is certainly a strong resemblance to these fistic legends, with Lomachenko able to counter-punch while on the move and place those sharp punches dexterously with what seems like an instinctive built-in radar.

What is not in doubt is Lomachenko's exquisite quality as a box-fighter who can stand opponents on their head - as well as putting them on their backside.

This he did late in the most recent of his dozen bouts, against Jorge Linares, a highly skilled opponent of no mean ability, unbeaten in six years and ranked among the world's top ten pound-for-pounders, to claim the World Boxing Association super-lightweight belt.

He added it to the World Boxing Organization featherweight and super-featherweight titles he had already acquired.

It was a performance which took the breath away - not only from the onlooking fans packed into New York's Madison Square Garden - but literally from Linares, who succumbed to a left hook to the body in the tenth which travelled no more than six inches.

It was akin to Ali's famous phantom punch in his second fight with Sonny Liston, delivered with such venom and velocity that television cameras virtually missed it.

At 30, this slickest of southpaws is the smoothest operator in modern boxing. Fleet of fist and foot, he moves with almost balletic grace and balance, no doubt a relic of his formative years when his trainer father coached him in the art of the hopak, the Cossack-styled Ukrainian national dance in their home village.

What I particularly like is that he embodies some of the characteristics of Gennady Golovkin (still my favourite current boxer), especially in that he is not shy of taking one shot to deliver two or more.

Indeed, Linares, the ultra-accomplished Venezuelan world champion, put him on the floor for the first time in the sixth round. But Lomachenko was up almost before he had touched down.

Like Triple G, he has revived the art of body punching. That left hook to the liver - like a right to the temple - can be the most brutal coup de grace in boxing.

It is incredible to think that Lomachenko, who now lives in California, fought for a world title - narrowly losing on a split decision - in only his second pro fight just three years ago, and he won one in his third.

Subsequently he remains unblemished and such is his prowess and reputation that prior to the Linares contest four successive world class opponents, including the hitherto "untouchable" Cuban Guillermo Rigondeaux, quit on their stool during their bouts rather than risk further humiliation.

What cannot be disputed is that Lomachenko is the greatest amateur boxer of all time, with only one defeat in 396 bouts.

He won the featherweight Olympic gold medal and was awarded the prestigious Val Barker Trophy for the most outstanding boxer at the 2008 Games in Beijing. The same year he won gold at the European Championships.

Lomachenko went on to win the gold medal at the 2009 World Amateur Championships, where he conceded only seven points in the whole tournament despite breaking his hand in an earlier bout.

In 2011, he moved up to the lightweight division where he captured his second gold medal at the World Amateur Championships. In 2012, he won his second Olympic gold at the London Games.

Former Olympic gold medallist Istvan Kovacs said of Lomachenko: "Thank God there was no Lomachenko in my division at the time, I never saw a fighter like him before."

However, I think it is a tad too early to pass definitive judgement on him as the greatest boxer of all time.

How I would love to have witnessed him lock fists with some of the great featherweights and lightweights of the past, like Willie Pep, Henry Armstrong, Vicente Saldivar, Carlos Ortiz, Roberto Duran, Ismael Laguna or Britain's Ken Buchanan.

Catchweight contests with Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr could also have better determined his greatness. And talked-of future confrontations with Terence Crawford and Mikey Garcia still might.

Meantime, let us savour Loma for what he is. A sublime artist on canvas and a very special athlete indeed.