Lopez ends Taylor’s unbeaten record
American Teofimo Lopez defeated previously undefeated Briton Josh Taylor for a unanimous decision on Saturday to the World Boxing Organization light welterweight title. The judges gave the 25-year-old from Brooklyn the victory by scores of 115-113, 115-113 and 117-111.
Lopez improved his record to 19-1 while dropping the 32-year-old Scot, the undisputed former divisional world champion, to the same record. Lopez, a former lightweight world champion, is a two-division world champion with the 140-pound title.”I’m so thankful. It’s been so long,” Lopez said. “We just beat the world number one, the undisputed former world champion. It’s about doing what I need to do.”
Lopez apologized to Taylor for saying before the fight that he wanted to kill the Scot. “He’s tough,” Lopez said. “I understand why he beats so many fighters. You have to fight for yourself. “Taylor has become the undisputed light welterweight champion of the world after a controversial split decision win over Britain’s Jack Catterall.
He lost all three of his titles to a rematch with Catterall but Taylor suffered a leg injury that prevented him from having a scheduled fight. That triggered a layoff 16 months before his fight with Lopez but Taylor said it wasn’t an issue.”Layoffs have nothing to do with this,” Taylor said. “I have no excuses. He was the best that night. He wasn’t the best. I thought it was a great fight. I knew I could beat him.”
Lopez went to the canvas in the second round and Taylor fell in the third on a referee Michael Griffin error. Taylor punched Lopez while touching the glove during the restart in the second round, but when he was warned about pulling Lopez’s small head. Hitting Lopez to left in the fifth drew a roar from the home side but Taylor then answered with a powerful left.
Lopez was bruised outside of the right eye but began to press in the middle round, hitting Taylor with a right to the head in the seventh and following with a flying left off the canvas at the end of the eighth. Right kicks resulted in Lopez connecting twice with rights in the ninth and after dominating the 11th, Lopez raised his hands for the win in the next round, which also worked in Lopez’s favor.
