SPORTS FACTS AND FIGURES 41: TEOFIMO LOPEZ WINS BY CONTROVERSIAL UNANIMOUS DECISION OVER JAMAINE ORTIZ
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 10 Feb 2024
Teofimo Lopez Jr., WBO and The Ring junior welterweight world champion defeated the 27-year-old challenger Jamaine Ortiz by unanimous decision on Thursday night before 6,206 at the Michelob ULTRA Arena inside Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.
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Judges Tim Cheatham and David Sutherland each had 115-113 scores, while Steve Weisfeld saw it 117-111 for Lopez (20-1, 13 knockouts). Several fans believed that Ortiz (17-2-1, 8 KOs) deserved to win the dull and moderate action title bout with comments through social media. However a lot of viewers also agreed with the judges that Ortiz had not performed well to convince them to hand him Lopez’s world titles.
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“I tried my best for the people,” Lopez told ESPN in a post fight interview. “I even tried to box going backward and he didn’t want to commit. Glory is next for me. None of these guys want to fight me. I’ll fight [Terence] Crawford at a catchweight. I’m here. I’m ready. I’ve always been ready. I’m younger, prettier, and a two-time unified champion at 25."
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Ortiz was a natural right-handed boxer, but fought with a southpaw stance. He foiled Lopez's offensive and thought he scored an upset against the former unified lightweight champion by unanimous decision. Lopez kept on chasing Ortiz around the ring in most rounds.
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The 26-year-old Lopez entered the fight as a 7-1 favorite, but was not able to accomplish much in offense and failed to catch Ortiz, who was an imposing defense tactician. Lopez however succeeded in making his first defense of the WBO junior welterweight title he won from Josh Taylor nearly eight months ago.
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Lopez of Las Vegas became a two-weight world champion when he unanimously outpointed the favorite Scottish southpaw titleholder on June 10, 2023 at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.
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The 27-year-old Ortiz lost only to Lopez and Vasiliy Lomachenko. Ukraine’s Lomachenko (17-3, 11 KOs) defeated Ortiz by unanimous decision in a 12-round bout that took place in October 2022 in The Theater at Madison Square Garden.
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Ortiz, of Worcester, Massachusetts, failed in his first attempt to win a world title. He also failed to avenge his tightly contested loss to Lopez in the finals of the 2015 National Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions.
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NBA Record All-Time 3 Point Shots Made:
1. Stephen Curry 3615
2. Ray Allen 2973
3. James Harden 2881
4. Reggie Miller 2560
5. Damian Lillard 2526
6. Kyle Korver 2450
7. Klay Thompson 2364
8. LeBron James 2358
9. Vince Carter 2290
10. Jason Terry 2282
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Sports History: February 9, 1991. Sugar Ray Leonard fought Terry Norris for the WBC super welterweight title. Norris defeated Leonard by a unanimous decision as Norris scored two knockdowns over Leonard. All three judges had Norris the winner with scores of 120–104, 119–103 and 116–110.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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