Million Dollar, 38, faced and lost to The Matrix, 37, inside four rounds for the WBA and WBO lightweight championship in 2019, and following Lomachenko’s retirement announcement, Crolla has reflected on the fighter who was “levels and levels about [him]”.

In an interview with Boxing News magazine, he said: “I shared the ring, even in sparring, with some of the great fighters and future Hall of Famers, but yeah, there’s no doubt he's definitely the best fighter I ever shared a ring with.”

Crolla admitted he soon found Lomachenko to be something special “very quickly” into their match.

He said: “It was his distance and control, it was unbelievable. He also hit a little bit harder than I expected, and he didn’t waste anything.

“When he started to go through the gears at the end of the first round, I thought, ‘Oh s***! This is hard as it is, and I know he’s literally in second gear.’”

Crolla admitted he’s “never been knocked out like that in [his] life” when he lost to Lomachenko.

He said: “You know, people were asking me if I was all right and I was saying, ‘It wasn’t even a bad stoppage, what are you talking about?’ I knew exactly where I was, but I just couldn’t move.

“I was back in the dressing room and everyone is there, all concerned, and it’s just silence. Then [promoter] Eddie Hearn just sort of went, ‘It was pretty bad you know, Croll …’ and I went, ‘No it wasn’t!’, because I remembered everything. I wasn’t out cold.

“Anyway, I said to William [Crolla, his brother], ‘Here, Will, pass my phone.’ I swear I watched the knockout and it just didn’t look how I thought it was going to look.

“I didn’t know I was going to be face down on the floor. I’m trying to move around the canvas and I’m trying to lift my head up, but I couldn’t move.”