Young Guard Takes Over: Teofimo Lopez Beats Vasiliy Lomachenko To Become Undisputed Lightweight Champion
The hype was real for one of the biggest fights in boxing this year. After a long delay, both Teofimo Lopez and Vasiliy Lomachenko were ready to go to war against one another. With all eyes on them, anything was possible.
In the end, the young gun in Lopez looked poised and consistent in his fighting. The 23-year-old from Brooklyn backflipped his way into history, beating Lomachenko via unanimous decision, 116–112, 119–109, 117–111. As a result, he became the WBA, WBO, and The Ring Lightweight Champion to go along with the IBF Lightweight Championship.
When you look back at the fight, Lopez (16–0) was the one who was playing the part of a dominant Lomachenko (14–2). Lopez would go to the body early with a few rights and jabs. He continued hitting jabs in round two while also landing a shot to the head. Lomachenko would connect with the jab, but he was not as consistent as Lopez was. By round three, Lopez was still chasing Lomachenko around. He would land a two-punch combination along with body shots that pushed Lomachenko against the ropes.
Lomachenko clearly looked off at the beginning, as he only landed two shots after attempting eleven shots in round three. By contrast, Lopez landed 11 out of 42 shots.
Rounds four and five saw Lopez continuing to move around the ring. Lomachenko would land a huge jab, but Lopez would land one of his own. Lopez would land combination shots, as he would go back to the body. Right hands would then pour down by Lopez, as he almost landed a left hook. It looked to be a bit of a sweep until the sixth round, where Lomachenko would wake up.
The later rounds saw a somewhat aggressive side to Lomachenko. By round seven, Lomachenko was hitting in the clinch and landing combination shots. Coming forward, Lomachenko was trying to prove that patience pays off. He finally had double-digit connections in round eight, landing 19 shots. Was it enough, though? Many were giving Lomachenko a chance to come back, and he tried with uppercut shots. Lopez, however, would go back to landing hooks as well as uppercuts. After not spending enough time on the body in the middle rounds, Lopez returned to keeping it simple.
Rounds ten and eleven saw the best exchange between the two, as both landed back and forth blows. Lomachenko hit a body shot and an overhand right, but Lopez countered with a body shot of his won. Both landed shots to the head as it appeared that Lopez looked tired. Lopez would continue to land body shots in the twelfth round, as well as uppercut ones. While he had blood pouring from his eye thanks to a headbutt, Lopez would not stop letting up. His destiny was waiting for him at the end of the final bell.
According to CompuBox, Lopez outhit Lomachenko 183 to 141. Lopez is now interested in fighting whoever is in his path. That includes Devin Haney, the WBC Lightweight Champion.
With the win, Lopez has now won five fights since the start of 2019. As for Lomachenko, this was the first time since 2014, his second career fight, in which he lost a bout.
