Teofimo Lopez is the new king of the boxing lightweight division after he defeated Vasyl Lomachenko tonight.
With 23-years of age, Lopez (16-0, 12 KOs) becomes the youngest ever four-belt champion, putting the spotlight on himself after a masterful performance at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas.
He would get this battle after a unanimous decision of the judges who all scored in his favor, 116-112, 119-109, and 117-111.
Lopez opened the match very well, using his reach to neutralize the Ukrainian’s quickness and technique. Throughout the first seven rounds, he outboxed arguably the best active pound-for-pound fighter, not allowing him to get near or to make some combo. Also, once attacking the rival, Lopez was pretty accurate, and even though he didn’t have too many surges, each one was precise and lethal, which created a big gap in the scorecards.
However, after round 7, Lomachenko (14-2, 10 KOs) found his rhythm, and we could see the champ delivering several excellent combinations that indicated a possible rally. As time went by, Loma was better and better, pressuring Lopez, who had to react in order to improve the impression and rebuff the rising opponent. And that happened in the last sequence, when American responded with full power, stopping the rival, and furthermore, forcing him to go backward on several occasions.
Lopez’s left hook in the late phase of the 12th was the moment once he stopped Loma and secured the belts. He halted the Ukrainian’s aggression in those moments, making a series of power shots that didn’t stop until the end of the bout.
The stats for this fight are very interesting, with Lomachenko having fewer landed hits, 183-141, but a much higher accuracy, 44%-28%. Yet, 148 of 183 Lopez’s hits were power, while on the other side, Loma had just 78.
After 14 straight wins, all of them title matches, Lomachenko lost all of his belts. Lopez stripped him of the WBA, WBO, and The Ring lightweight titles, also taking the WBC title as well. The two-time Olympic gold medalist will now have to face something he never had before, and that is to be without honors.
Meanwhile, with 23 years of age, Lopez is the undisputed king of the lightweight, and his next steps are still unknown. He would mention Josh Taylor and Jose Ramirez as his next opponents, but there are no official confirmation for now.