Josh Taylor vs Teofimo Lopez – Results & Post-Fight Report

Teofimo Lopez turned in an inspired performance, as he wrenched the WBO and Ring Magazine super lightweight titles from Josh Taylor in a unanimous decision win at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Taylor had been out of action since February last year, where he took a contentious split decision win against Jack Catterall, and he had since seen each of his WBC, WBA (Super) and IBF belts become vacant. Lopez was taking part in his third bout at super lightweight, having previously reigned as unified world champion at lightweight.

After a spicy buildup in was down to business, and Taylor (19-1, KO13) began off a solid jab, moving in and out of range. The Scot opened up with a flurry of punches in the opening round, and he also connected with some decent body shots. The two opened up in round two, with Taylor looking a step ahead, but Lopez (19-1, KO13) had a decent third, landing with a nice right hand, and he also had his successes in the fourth, driving Taylor back towards the ropes.

Lopez was growing in confidence, putting together good combinations, and he backed the champion up towards the end of round six in what was becoming a tricky defence for ‘The Tartan Tornado‘. The two postured in round eight, and took turns to have their successes, with Taylor connecting with a stiff left hand and Lopez a leaping left hook towards the end of the frame, but Lopez’s hand speed was causing problems, with the ninth a massive one for him as he landed cleanly with several shots.

Taylor was struggling to pin down his opponent, and was being picked off as a result, with Lopez beating him to the punch and landing a big counter right hand in the penultimate round, and it looked as though Taylor would need something special in the last to hold on to his belts. A left hand left Taylor unsteady on his feet in the final frame, and a body shot also seemed to trouble him as the strong finish wasn’t forthcoming, with Lopez finishing the fight in some style as it went to the
scorecards.

A score of 117-111, and two at 115-113 ensured a superb victory for ’The Takeover’.

It was a pretty tepid undercard, and Puerto Rico’s Henry Lebron (18-0, KO10) stayed unbeaten, dropping Carlos Ramos (17-3, KO10) in the eighth round of their lightweight contest on the way to a wide points win. Lebron took victory by two scores of 98-90 and a third at 97-91.

Robson Conceicao (17-2, KO8) returned after defeat to Shakur Stevenson, but his super featherweight ten rounder with Nicolas Polanco (20-4-1, KO11) ended in round two with a no-contest, as the pair clashed heads and Polanco was unable to continue.

Popular Polish heavyweight Damian Knyba (12-0, KO7) also remained undefeated, taking a 79-73 win across the board in his eight round heavyweight encounter with Helaman Olguin (9-6-1, KO4).

Xander Zayas (16-0, KO10) scored an opening round knockdown against Ronald Cruz (18-3-1, KO12) in their eight rounder at super welterweight, and then took a decision win by three scores of 80-71.

Bruce Carrington (8-0, KO5) stopped Luis Porozo (16-7, KO9) in the eighth and final round at featherweight, and Omar Rosario (11-0, KO3) won by unanimous decision over eight at super lightweight against Jan Carlos Rivera (8-2, KO6).