Young underdog Teofimo Lopez announced his true arrival as a superstar fighter in boxing tonight in Las Vegas, out-pointing the highly-respected master Vasiliy Lomachenko over 12 rounds to unify the WBA, WBO, and IBF lightweight titles.
Lopez (16-0, 12 KO) has boasted about “The Takeover” for a couple of years now, and tonight, he did what he said he’d do. He didn’t just out-muscle Lomachenko (14-2, 10 KO), which many fans and pundits thought might be the only way he could win the fight, he out-boxed and out-thought him for the majority of the bout, taking a clear — if somewhat controversially scored, at least by Julie Lederman — decision victory.
We’ll have to figure out what’s next for Lopez, 23, as he goes forward, because he’ll definitely have some big fight options. but for now, he deserves every bit of praise and admiration and respect that comes his way. He was the legitimate underdog, he was facing a still-great fighter, and he won, period.
Obviously the fight is the talk of the boxing world, so here’s what some pros had to say in the immediate aftermath.
119 -109 ooowwweeee that was a good fight but that score was so disrespectful
— Terence Crawford (@terencecrawford) October 18, 2020
Congratulations to @TeofimoLopez for an undisputed great performance.
— Manny Pacquiao (@MannyPacquiao) October 18, 2020
There was a glitch in the Matrix.#LomaLopez @trboxing
— Jamel Herring (@JamelHerring) October 18, 2020
I been said Loma was wack! 🤦🏽♂️
— Devin Haney (@Realdevinhaney) October 18, 2020
