Teofimo Lopez did what many thought he could not. That is defeat pound for pound best Vasiliy Lomachenko. While many critics and pundits characterized the fight as a “toss up”, conventional wisdom had Lomachenko emerging victorious. After all, he was the more experienced, battle tested fighter. Teofimo Lopez didn’t get the memo.
The first half of the bout was a chess match. Lopez displayed great fight IQ and boxing acumen, pressing the action, as the busier of the two Lopez had a higher punch output and scored a number of effective body shots behind a stiff jab. As is customary for Lomachenko, he started slower, seeming to want to download Lopez before launching his own attack. However, in this case Lomachenko perhaps waited too long – through the first six rounds.
In the second half of the bout, Lomachenko realizing he was behind stepped on the proverbial gas and launched an offense. Perhaps taking rounds seven through ten. But not overwhelmingly, as Lopez gave as good as he got. However, if there was a round that sealed the victory for Lopez, it was the twelfth and final round. Lopez “bit down” as ESPN analysts Andre Ward and Timothy Bradley noted, and launched an offense that nearly took Lomachenko out. While Loma made it to the end of the round, Lopez put his stamp on the fight with the effort and cruised to a unanimous decision victory. The judges scoring the bout 116-112, 119-109 and 117-111 for Lopez.
Check out the highlights here.