By: Sean Crose
Teofimo Lopez didn’t have an awesome night time for himself on Saturday. Fighting in entrance of a hometown Madison Square Garden crowd, the previous light-weight king confronted the underrated Sandor Martin, who didn’t make issues simple for him. Lopez earned a cut up resolution win from the judges, however there are those that felt he ought to have misplaced the combat – and so they appear to be fairly a couple of in quantity. The fact is, I felt Lopez gained, however wouldn’t have been shocked or upset had Martin scored one other stunning upset (that is the man who defeated Mikey Garcia, in any case).
This, merely put, was a query of preferences. If you preferred aggressiveness, Teo was your man. If you preferred affected person, defensive minded precision, Martin was your man. As a rule, I usually go for the extra exact puncher, however within the case of Saturday night time, I felt Martin ended up being too affected person for his personal good. Regardless, the Spaniard proved to be a problem for Lopez, who confirmed clear indicators of frustration. A remark caught on digicam after the combat, the place Teo puzzled aloud if he nonetheless had the products, rapidly made the rounds on boxing media.
And so now there are some who’re questioning whether or not or not the fighter often called “The Takeover” is completed. There are additionally those that, within the wealthy custom of boxing followers, seem very happy to now write the man off. This is ridiculous. Lopez had a foul night time on Saturday, however not a horrible night time. Duran had a horrible night time when he stop towards Leonard. Tyson had a horrible night time when he was knocked out by Douglas. Pacquiao had a horrible night time when he was laid flat by Marquez. Lopez having a tricky go towards the underrated expertise of Sandor most distinctly does NOT qualify as a horrible night time.
The level right here is the combat world ought to wait and see what occurs with Lopez. Remember, he was a light-weight terror who went on to finest none aside from Vasyl Lomachenko earlier than dropping to George Kambosos. Lets additionally do not forget that Lopez entered the ring to face Kambosos with a horrible sport plan. The man has gained two in a row since – this final time towards an opponent whose expertise individuals merely refuse to acknowledge (When are we going to cease seeing Martin’s sturdy performances as flukes?). So possibly it’s a bit of untimely to jot down Lopez off so rapidly. Provided he’s in an emotional rut, Tyson Fury, Lopez’ Top Rank stablemate, has confirmed that may be handled – at the very least at occasions. In the meantime, let’s wait to see what comes subsequent earlier than we write off “The Takeover” so rapidly.
