Teofimo Lopez came under fire after his fight with Jamaine Ortiz last Thursday night, an underwhelming affair that many observers felt Lopez was fortunate to win.
The Ortiz victory is not the first time that Lopez has got the rub of the green during his 21 fight professional career – and one of his previous foes has come out with some criticism for ‘The Takeover.’
Sandor Martin locked horns with the polarising New Yorker back in 2022 as a heavy underdog, however the contest proved to be a nip and tuck affair that a host of pundits felt could have gone either way.
Lopez squeaked a split decision win on that December night, a result that former European champion Martin feels wronged by to this day.
The Spaniard took to social media as soon as Lopez was declared victorious last week, and he clearly believes Ortiz was subjected to the same injustice as himself.
AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN 🤦🏼♂️
Stop protecting this guy pic.twitter.com/emxcHHwabk
— Sandor Martin (@sandormartin) February 9, 2024
Lopez vs Ortiz took a similar patten to the Martin fight, with ‘Teo’ struggling to cut the ring off against a cautious, back foot southpaw.
It must also be noted that Ortiz’ cautious approach meant that he too failed to offer up much in the way of offence, resulting in an underwhelming spectacle in Las Vegas.
(Photo Credit: Mikey Williams, Top Rank)
Lopez has since blasted ‘The Technician’ for his tactics, stating that the 27-year-old didn’t want to “come and fight” before imploring him to “get the f*** out of my sport.”
By hook or by crook, the former unified lightweight champion has retained his WBO strap at 140lbs, and as such one would expect him to be involved in another mega fight at some point in 2024.
However, robbery or not, it’s difficult to imagine the big fish in and around his weight class being particularly concerned by what they saw at the Michelob Ultra Arena.
Lopez called for a shot at pound for pound king Terence Crawford in the build up to his clash with Ortiz, whilst super lightweight unification bouts with the likes of Devin Haney and Subriel Matias have also been floated.
