Here’s everything that happened in the Lomachenko vs. Lopez lightweight unification title showdown on Saturday night.
Vasiliy Lomachenko isn’t infallible after all. And Teofimo Lopez definitively proved that on Saturday night. In the process of winning a unanimous decision against Lomachenko in the Las Vegas bubble, Lopez unified the 135-pound titles and stamped himself as a huge star by beating the betting favorite in front of him. He did it by outboxing the master boxer for the first half of the fight and then outlasting Lomachenko in the second half. The judges had it 116-112,119-109 and 117-111 (I scored it 115-113 for Lopez), and though Julie Lederman’s decision to give Lomachenko only one round (one freakin’ round?!?), there’s not much doubt that Lopez was the better fighter on this night. Whether Lomachenko is past his prime or Lopez was too big for him—or maybe Lopez is even more phenomenal than people thought—he was awesome on Saturday. “I had to dig deep,” Lopez said on ESPN after the fight. “I’m grateful. Each and every day I take that in. It feels good.” Afterward, Lomachenko said he thought he won the fight (though I don’t think he was too convincing with his answer).
