Teofimo Lopez Surprises Josh Taylor to Win WBO Junior Welterweight Title – Live | Boxing
important event
“It’s been a long time,” Lopez says. “We just beat the #1 man, the direct world champion, the undisputed former world champion.”
Lopez, who made the wrong headline by saying he was trying to take Taylor’s life in the ring during a prep fight, hugged his opponent and apologized.
“I think I’m going to give in to my emotions,” he says. “I don’t want to take your life. I want you to go back to your family. As a man, I apologize.”
Lopez continued, “Josh Taylor is a tough guy. I can understand why he took down so many fighters. But you have to deal with counter-punchers. You gotta get in there and I did it I think I’ve done enough That’s all I had a good reason to question myself You guys I’ve always been the worst critic, and you got a little glimpse of that, but I just want to ask you one thing, one thing, do you still get it?
Josh Taylor: ‘Better man wins tonight’
“I have no excuses,” says Taylor. “I wasn’t my best. Tonight the better won. No excuses. I fought to the best of my ability. Tonight he was better than me. That’s the reality.” Congratulations, Teofimus.”
He continued, “I thought it was a close match. I would love to do it again. I definitely know I am better than that and I know I can still beat him. I would love to do it again. is the champion, so the ball is in his court.”
Taylor disputed the notion that 15 months of inactivity before tonight’s game was a disadvantage.
“The layoffs had nothing to do with it,” he says. “There’s no excuses. Tonight he was a better man. He’s probably going to be at welterweight. But there’s no excuses. Tonight he was a better man.”
Teofimo Lopez defeated Josh Taylor by unanimous decision!
Teofimo Lopez suffered his first loss in his professional career to Josh Taylor, robbing him of the WBO Junior Welterweight Title he has held since 2021 and becoming a two-division world champion.
Three judges at ringside handed out scores of 115-113 (what?), 115-113 (what?!) and 117-111 (more like it). The Guardian reported 116 to 112, which doesn’t fully reflect Lopez’s dominance. Two of Taylor’s scoring rounds could easily have been in Lopez’s favor.
round 12
Lopez rocks Taylor backwards with punches early in the round, which suggests the stop is near…and he’ll have two-and-a-half minutes to finish. When Lopez came in, Taylor completely stepped back and pinballed, which left him without a leg. The audience stands up. Taylor will be in time for the bell, but the result is beyond doubt. This was the first time in Josh Taylor’s professional career as Lopez suffered an absolute loss in a match that most people did not expect him to win. Officially defeated.
Unofficial Guardian score: Taylor 9-10 Lopez (Taylor 112-116 Lopez)
round eleven
There was little reaction from Taylor and further punishment was given by Lopez. Lopez connects with an uppercut that would probably be dropped by any lightweight in the world. Another uppercut from Lopez. This is proof that Taylor is still sane after all this.
Unofficial Guardian score: Taylor 9-10 Lopez (Taylor 103-106 Lopez)
round 10
Taylor did well enough to break into the top 10, but that’s only because Lopez seemed to be letting his guard down after losing the last four sessions.
Unofficial Guardian score: Taylor 10-9 Lopez (Taylor 94-96 Lopez)
round 9
Lopez calmly beats the big man in front of him. He’s in full control and Taylor seems ready. Lopez made a last-minute show, turning Taylor’s head around at will as an exhausted Taylor missed wide on a loop shot from the ropes. great performance.
Unofficial Guardian score: Taylor 9-10 Lopez (Taylor 84-87 Lopez)
round 8
Nothing goes wrong for Taylor, who is not only beaten, but killed by Lopez fighting back. Honestly, it looks like the deal is done now. Lopez rocked the champion hard near the end. It was another easy game for Lopez.
Unofficial Guardian score: Taylor 9-10 Lopez (Taylor 75-77 Lopez)
round 7
Taylor needs to sort things out before things get out of hand. Lopez has beaten him to the brim in nearly every interaction, resulting in a long period of inactivity. He is being attacked by larger punchers and is having trouble fighting back effectively. For some reason, Lopez has a cut in his right eye. But this is all Lopez and Taylor is in deep trouble.
Unofficial Guardian score: Taylor 9-10 Lopez (Taylor 66-67 Lopez)
round 6
Taylor became more aggressive at the start of the sixth round, starting first with the intention of reversing the pattern of the past few rounds. He practically gave up his jab. Lopez continues to outperform the Scots on the outskirts and in general. And to make things even worse, Lopez caught Taylor resurfacing in the final seconds and she held out until the final bell. Easy round for Lopez.
Unofficial Guardian score: Taylor 9-10 Lopez (Taylor 57-57 Lopez)
round 5
Lopez has another good round, is in good shape and is having his best moments of the night. He’s a busier fighter, making cleaner shots, while being an elusive target for the bodywork Taylor relied on early on.
Unofficial Guardian score: Taylor 9-10 Lopez (Taylor 48-47 Lopez)
round 4
Taylor fell down violently, but the referee correctly called it a slip. Lopez beats Taylor, beats him, and builds confidence. chants of “Damn you, Taylor!” The voices of Lopez supporters spread across the south end of the room. And near the end of the frame, Lopez put Taylor back on the ropes with his concussed right hand. And Taylor seems to be hurt! Taylor could get hurt! He gets up and luckily the bell is approaching! At the end of the round, a massive statement was made by Lopez in support of the entire theater.
Unofficial Guardian score: Taylor 9-10 Lopez (Taylor 39-37 Lopez)
round 3
Taylor is cautioned for punching Lopez after pushing him halfway through the ropes. When Lopez tries to touch the glove, Taylor immediately stomps Lopez with a jab. Lopez is hitting heavier shots at the moment, but Taylor is doing a better job with combinations. This is already a very interesting fight and is being contested at a high pace that defies the previous one-sided scorecard as Lopez could easily shadow a second or third round.
Unofficial Guardian score: Taylor 10-9 Lopez (Taylor 30-27 Lopez)
round 2
Lopez is fighting with an orthodox stance. He landed a crunchy left hook upstairs on Taylor for the best punch of the match. With about a minute left in the round, a shootout began in the neutral corner, with both sides exchanging headshots. Taylor continues bodywork hard and catches Lopez coming in with a right hand near the end. It was a very close round that could have gone either way, but Taylor played well enough to get through it.
Unofficial Guardian score: Taylor 10-9 Lopez (Taylor 20-18 Lopez)
round 1
There is a bell there. Taylor’s size advantage is even more visible in the light than on paper. “Theo!” shouts Theo! ” roars through the crowd. Taylor pushed Lopez into the ropes and opened fire with combinations, landing several shots in the opponent’s ribs. Lopez’s hand speed looks intimidating, but Taylor has the better shots and the point is to aim for his body. After the bell, Lopez saw a small cut on the bridge of his nose as he returned to the corner.
Unofficial Guardian score: Taylor 10-9 Lopez (Taylor 10-9 Lopez)
A fighter appears. The first is Teofimo Lopez. He emerges from the back of the theater in a light blue and gold robe with gold trimmings and walks a long way down the aisle as Juicy by Notorious B.I.G. A closer look at the robe, dotted with Bud Light patches and a large Walt Disney logo on the back, is a veritable political statement (or troll job).
Now it’s Taylor’s turn to appear in Rum Jam’s Black Betty in a tartan robe. There are good things here and there. According to Top Rank, the theater’s sell-out and gate entry record is a packed audience that surges from back to front.
the story of the tape
Here’s how Taylor and Lopez develop ahead of tonight’s main event. Taylor would benefit from being 2 inches tall and 1 inch of reach.
Xander Zayas defeated the durable Ronald Cruz by unanimous decision in the 8th round. All three ringside judges scored an 80-71 shutout victory. The rising junior-middleweight star has gone on to win 16 of his 16 pro fights, continues to improve fight after fight, and looks surprisingly sophisticated for a 20-year-old. Big things await.
Next up is Josh Taylor vs. Teofimo Lopez, Taylor’s WBO junior welterweight title fight.
Xander Zayas got off to a good start in the co-feature match. The junior-middleweight prospect from San Juan brought the crowd to its feet on Puerto Rico Day weekend when he knocked Ronald Cruz down with an exquisite counter 30 seconds into the season opener. Cruz has been steady since then, but Zayas continues to bank round behind the jab and appear to be in complete control through six frames of the scheduled eight rounds.
preamble
Hello. Welcome to New York for tonight’s junior welterweight title bout between Josh Taylor and Teofimo Lopez. We are ringside in a theater at Madison Square Garden, a former unified champion of different weight classes who once aspired for stardom but for various reasons his star has faded in the past two years. The long-awaited match between pairs.A quick recap from today’s battle preview:
Taylor (19-0, 13 KOs) scored out points with a stylish, aggressive southpaw that rose to fame with back-to-back wins over current or former world champions Regis Prograis, Ivan Baranchik and Victor Postol. Earned the biggest win of his career. Jose Ramirez recorded two knockdowns on the way in the unification match in May 2021. This made him the first British martial artist and the fifth man in boxing’s four-belt era to become an undisputed champion in every weight class.
But Tartan Tornado was lucky to escape with a split-decision victory in a mandatory defense against Jack Cattarole eight months later without warning. Since then, he’s given up three of his four title belts in hopes of a rematch, but that didn’t happen when Taylor tore his plantar fascia in March. The Scot remains the top dog in boxing’s junior welterweight division after a broken bone, but it’s been more than 15 months since he’s made his mark inside the ropes.
Lopez (18-1, 13 KOs) is a brawny 25-year-old dubbed “Takeover” for his disruptive career ambitions, but he’s weathered even more dramatic shifts in fortunes. The solid left-hander from Sunset Park, Brooklyn, who won the IBF lightweight title in just his 15th fight by KOing the durable Richard Commey, defeated Vasily Lomachenko by unanimous decision in October 2020. You made a big promise. A three-division champion from Ukraine, he was long considered the best fighter in the sport, regardless of his weight.
But it took more than 13 months before Lopez made his first defense, his bout against forced challenger George Kambosos was postponed three times, and the American suffered a shocking split-decision loss to the IBF, WBA and IBF titles. , lost the WBO belt. Already working to gain 135 pounds, Lopez climbed up to junior welterweight and has since settled in with two modest wins against fringe contenders.
The joint main event between Xander Zayas and Ronald Cruz has just started, so the main event will finish before midnight.
Brian will be here soon. in the meantime this is his preview Tonight’s main event features two former unified champions who need a win in their careers.
Summarize this content to 100 words important eventShow only major eventsPlease turn on JavaScript to use this feature”It’s been a long time,” Lopez says. “We just beat the #1 man, the direct world champion, the undisputed former world champion.”Lopez, who made the wrong headline by saying he was trying to take Taylor’s life in the ring during a prep fight, hugged his opponent and apologized.”I think I’m going to give in to my emotions,” he says. “I don’t want to take your life. I want you to go back to your family. As a man, I apologize.”Lopez continued, “Josh Taylor is a tough guy. I can understand why he took down so many fighters. But you have to deal with counter-punchers. You gotta get in there and I did it I think I’ve done enough That’s all I had a good reason to question myself You guys I’ve always been the worst critic, and you got a little glimpse of that, but I just want to ask you one thing, one thing, do you still get it?Josh Taylor: ‘Better man wins tonight'”I have no excuses,” says Taylor. “I wasn’t my best. Tonight the better won. No excuses. I fought to the best of my ability. Tonight he was better than me. That’s the reality.” Congratulations, Teofimus.”He continued, “I thought it was a close match. I would love to do it again. I definitely know I am better than that and I know I can still beat him. I would love to do it again. is the champion, so the ball is in his court.”Taylor disputed the notion that 15 months of inactivity before tonight’s game was a disadvantage.”The layoffs had nothing to do with it,” he says. “There’s no excuses. Tonight he was a better man. He’s probably going to be at welterweight. But there’s no excuses. Tonight he was a better man.”Teofimo Lopez defeated Josh Taylor by unanimous decision!Teofimo Lopez suffered his first loss in his professional career to Josh Taylor, robbing him of the WBO Junior Welterweight Title he has held since 2021 and becoming a two-division world champion.Three judges at ringside handed out scores of 115-113 (what?), 115-113 (what?!) and 117-111 (more like it). The Guardian reported 116 to 112, which doesn’t fully reflect Lopez’s dominance. Two of Taylor’s scoring rounds could easily have been in Lopez’s favor.round 12Lopez rocks Taylor backwards with punches early in the round, which suggests the stop is near…and he’ll have two-and-a-half minutes to finish. When Lopez came in, Taylor completely stepped back and pinballed, which left him without a leg. The audience stands up. Taylor will be in time for the bell, but the result is beyond doubt. This was the first time in Josh Taylor’s professional career as Lopez suffered an absolute loss in a match that most people did not expect him to win. Officially defeated.Unofficial Guardian score: Taylor 9-10 Lopez (Taylor 112-116 Lopez)round elevenThere was little reaction from Taylor and further punishment was given by Lopez. Lopez connects with an uppercut that would probably be dropped by any lightweight in the world. Another uppercut from Lopez. This is proof that Taylor is still sane after all this.Unofficial Guardian score: Taylor 9-10 Lopez (Taylor 103-106 Lopez)round 10Taylor did well enough to break into the top 10, but that’s only because Lopez seemed to be letting his guard down after losing the last four sessions.Unofficial Guardian score: Taylor 10-9 Lopez (Taylor 94-96 Lopez)round 9Lopez calmly beats the big man in front of him. He’s in full control and Taylor seems ready. Lopez made a last-minute show, turning Taylor’s head around at will as an exhausted Taylor missed wide on a loop shot from the ropes. great performance.Unofficial Guardian score: Taylor 9-10 Lopez (Taylor 84-87 Lopez)round 8Nothing goes wrong for Taylor, who is not only beaten, but killed by Lopez fighting back. Honestly, it looks like the deal is done now. Lopez rocked the champion hard near the end. It was another easy game for Lopez.Unofficial Guardian score: Taylor 9-10 Lopez (Taylor 75-77 Lopez)round 7Taylor needs to sort things out before things get out of hand. Lopez has beaten him to the brim in nearly every interaction, resulting in a long period of inactivity. He is being attacked by larger punchers and is having trouble fighting back effectively. For some reason, Lopez has a cut in his right eye. But this is all Lopez and Taylor is in deep trouble.Unofficial Guardian score: Taylor 9-10 Lopez (Taylor 66-67 Lopez)round 6Taylor became more aggressive at the start of the sixth round, starting first with the intention of reversing the pattern of the past few rounds. He practically gave up his jab. Lopez continues to outperform the Scots on the outskirts and in general. And to make things even worse, Lopez caught Taylor resurfacing in the final seconds and she held out until the final bell. Easy round for Lopez.Unofficial Guardian score: Taylor 9-10 Lopez (Taylor 57-57 Lopez)round 5Lopez has another good round, is in good shape and is having his best moments of the night. He’s a busier fighter, making cleaner shots, while being an elusive target for the bodywork Taylor relied on early on.Unofficial Guardian score: Taylor 9-10 Lopez (Taylor 48-47 Lopez)round 4Taylor fell down violently, but the referee correctly called it a slip. Lopez beats Taylor, beats him, and builds confidence. chants of “Damn you, Taylor!” The voices of Lopez supporters spread across the south end of the room. And near the end of the frame, Lopez put Taylor back on the ropes with his concussed right hand. And Taylor seems to be hurt! Taylor could get hurt! He gets up and luckily the bell is approaching! At the end of the round, a massive statement was made by Lopez in support of the entire theater.Unofficial Guardian score: Taylor 9-10 Lopez (Taylor 39-37 Lopez)round 3Taylor is cautioned for punching Lopez after pushing him halfway through the ropes. When Lopez tries to touch the glove, Taylor immediately stomps Lopez with a jab. Lopez is hitting heavier shots at the moment, but Taylor is doing a better job with combinations. This is already a very interesting fight and is being contested at a high pace that defies the previous one-sided scorecard as Lopez could easily shadow a second or third round.Unofficial Guardian score: Taylor 10-9 Lopez (Taylor 30-27 Lopez)round 2Lopez is fighting with an orthodox stance. He landed a crunchy left hook upstairs on Taylor for the best punch of the match. With about a minute left in the round, a shootout began in the neutral corner, with both sides exchanging headshots. Taylor continues bodywork hard and catches Lopez coming in with a right hand near the end. It was a very close round that could have gone either way, but Taylor played well enough to get through it.Unofficial Guardian score: Taylor 10-9 Lopez (Taylor 20-18 Lopez)round 1There is a bell there. Taylor’s size advantage is even more visible in the light than on paper. “Theo!” shouts Theo! ” roars through the crowd. Taylor pushed Lopez into the ropes and opened fire with combinations, landing several shots in the opponent’s ribs. Lopez’s hand speed looks intimidating, but Taylor has the better shots and the point is to aim for his body. After the bell, Lopez saw a small cut on the bridge of his nose as he returned to the corner.Unofficial Guardian score: Taylor 10-9 Lopez (Taylor 10-9 Lopez)A fighter appears. The first is Teofimo Lopez. He emerges from the back of the theater in a light blue and gold robe with gold trimmings and walks a long way down the aisle as Juicy by Notorious B.I.G. A closer look at the robe, dotted with Bud Light patches and a large Walt Disney logo on the back, is a veritable political statement (or troll job).Now it’s Taylor’s turn to appear in Rum Jam’s Black Betty in a tartan robe. There are good things here and there. According to Top Rank, the theater’s sell-out and gate entry record is a packed audience that surges from back to front.the story of the tapeHere’s how Taylor and Lopez develop ahead of tonight’s main event. Taylor would benefit from being 2 inches tall and 1 inch of reach.Josh Taylor v Teofimo LopezXander Zayas defeated the durable Ronald Cruz by unanimous decision in the 8th round. All three ringside judges scored an 80-71 shutout victory. The rising junior-middleweight…
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/live/2023/jun/10/josh-taylor-v-teofimo-lopez-wbo-junior-welterweight-title-fight-live Teofimo Lopez Surprises Josh Taylor to Win WBO Junior Welterweight Title – Live | Boxing