Teofimo Lopez told you time and time again. He told you that he wasn’t a one-trick pony. He could knock you out. He could box you. He told you that Vasiliy Lomachenko wasn’t a god.
Lopez (16-0, 13 KOs) went out and proved that on Saturday night. He dominated the first half of the fight with his ring generalship. He took round after round from a very dormant Lomachenko. For all the talk about Lomachenko, he threw a putrid 321 punches.
For those trying to make storyline Julie Lederman’s scorecard, nice try but you’re totally off-base. Lederman’s 119-109 card was totally ridiculous and the “scoring is a stain on boxing” people were out but let’s be honest, the right fighter won. Furthermore, that same crowd didn’t channel that energy when C.J. Ross scored the Floyd Mayweather-Canelo Alvarez fight, 114-114.
The story is that a young gun won all four lightweight belts against a fighter that many thought was pound-for-pound the best fighter in the world.
Lopez was nearly a 4-1 underdog and did the unthinkable, he made Lomachenko look ordinary over the first six rounds. “The moment I stood my ground and started pressing him back, he gave up,” said Lopez.
Lomachenko picked it up in the 7th and performed at a high level in the 8th, 9th, 10th, and the 11th round.
With his father telling him to play it safe in the 12th, Lopez refused. Knowing that Lomachenko was coming off his best round, Lopez wanted to show Lomanchenko that their was a changing of the guard. “I gotta dig in deep,” said Lopez. “I knew he was coming. I can’t give him that.” And he didn’t. Lopez landed several hard shots in the 12th round, closing the show like a champion should. But that’s what made Lopez’ win special. There was no way he was going to leave the fight in anyone’s hands but his own. Not the judges. Not his Dad.
Don’t count on a rematch. Top Rank didn’t want to give Lopez a rematch clause so looks for him to move up to junior welterweight where he can face Jose Ramirez or Josh Taylor, two other Top Rank fighters who could hold all four major 140-pound title belts.
Whatever the future brings, it will be a bright one for Lopez. Lopez is willing take on all champions. “Everyone wants to be like Mayweather. In order to be like Mayweather, you’ve gotta be like ‘Pretty Boy’ first.”
Teofimo Lopez explains his old school ‘fight the best’ mentality which led to his win over Lomachenko at age 23…
“Everyone wants to be like Mayweather. In order to be like Mayweather, you’ve gotta be like ‘Pretty Boy’ first.”
[? @TRBoxing] pic.twitter.com/mUuXm2WztK
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) October 18, 2020
Now that’s talk we can all get behind.
