LOPEZ TAKES OVER BOXING, UPSETS LOMA TO BECOME UNIFIED LIGHTWEIGHT CHAMP (PHOTOS)
By Dong Secuya
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 18 Oct 2020
Teofimo Lopez did as he promise to take over the boxing world as he upset the best pound for pound fighter on the planet Vasiliy Lomachenko winning by unanimous decision to snatch Lomachenko's three belts to add to his own and became the unified lightweight world champion at The Bubble at MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas Saturday night (Sunday in Manila).
Judge Tim Cheatham had at 116-112, Julie Lederman 119-109 and Steve Weisfeld 117-111 all in favor for the new boxing superstar Teofimo Lopez of New York. Philboxing had it 114-114 draw.
Lopez, displaying elite boxing skills and speed to add up to his very dangerous power, held Loma at bay in the first six rounds as Loma was not able to penetrate at his younger opponent. Except in the second round where Loma landed a good left to the face of Lopez, Lopez seemed to win the all rounds except one in the first half of the fight.
In the seventh round, Loma got busy, got inside and for the first time landed in double digit numbers on Lopez. In the 8th, Loma came in for more and had Lopez in the ropes eating a lot of leathers from Loma's signature punches. The 8th round was Loma's best round of the fight.
Loma looked to continue bringing it on at Lopez but the brash-talking younger fighter made it a toe-to-toe battle that somehow stopped Lomachenko's momentum.
The championship rounds were riveting as Loma, behind in the scorecards but not used to losing, tried to bring it to Lopez but the New Yorker returned fire every time Loma comes close making the rounds difficult to score.
In the final round, both fighters gave it all but Lopez connected with the harder punches.
“I had to dig deep. I’m thankful, I’m grateful, and each and every day I take that in,” Lopez said after the fight. “I had to dig in there, and it feels good.”
Lomachenko, on the other hand, said, “I think in the first half of the fight, he got more rounds than I did, but in the second half, I took it over, and I was much better.”
The fight appeared to be closer than what the judges scored. Julie Lederman's score, who only gave one round to Lomachenko, was specially disconcerting.
“Julie Lederman, what kind of fight was she watching,” promoter Bob Arum told Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports. “These judges are the craziest. … Lopez won the fight, but Lopez won four of those rounds in the back end.”
This is the first time in history that the WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO lightweight belts have been unified and Lopez, at 23, became the youngest four-belt champion in history. With his speed, boxing skills and power, Lopez could become the face of boxing for years to come.
Lopez, who with his father, predicted to win a title in his 15th fight and take over boxing in his 16th by defeating Lomachenko, made good of everything they bragged in the last two years.
Lomachenko, the two-time Olympic gold medalist and considered by many as possessed of the best boxing skill in the sport, had to bow down to the new king. Lomachenko absorbed his second defeat and dropped to 14-2-0, 10Ks.
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