There’s no denying that Teofimo Lopez is the man of the hour.
Lopez is one week removed from his biggest professional victory to date, a clear unanimous decision victory over former pound for pound king Vasiliy Lomachenko.
Facing off with no crowd in Las Vegas, Lopez controlled the action early against Lomachenko and took a commanding early lead, before holding off a late rally from the veteran champion.
The action was very tactical and intense, as the younger fighter used his strength and speed to storm out of the gates while the veteran was left trying to catch up. It was a classic case of youth vs. experience.
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The 12th round was particularly entertaining, as Lopez went all out and unloaded punches. The fight appeared to be pretty close up until that point and the young champion seemed to know that he needed to do something to seal the deal.
Afterwards, Lopez reflected on his final round rally.
“I’m a fighter. I gotta dig in deep,” said Lopez. “I knew he was coming. I didn’t know if they had him up on the scorecards or not, and I love to fight. I can bang, too. I don’t care, man. I’ll take one to give one. That’s what a true champion does. I find a way to win.”
And now there is discussion about a possible rematch between the two men.
Lomachenko recently had shoulder surgery following the loss, and his team claims that he wasn’t at his best during the night of the fight.
Lopez isn’t hearing it.
“For what? F*ck him,” Lopez told TMZ. “I won fair and square. I not only beat him at his own game, but being off for ten months and fighting the guy people said was the best pound-for-pound.”
Lopez recalled his post-fight interaction with Team Lomachenko. He believes it is moments like this when he really saw the true character of Lomachenko.
“I went up to him [afterwards] and I said good fight. I grabbed his father, I said safe travels; pretty much saying goodbye to them because I knew I won,” Lopez said.
Lopez could still recall the bad vibes from his opponent, however.
“But he didn’t want to give me back that same gesture,” said a Lopez. “Instead he just started laughing. So, I was like ‘whatever, I did my part. The fighting’s done, I whooped your ass; you cut me, head-butted me and sh*t but it’s fine’.”
Seems less and less likely that we will be seeing these two in the same ring again.
For one, there was no rematch clause in the contract and Lopez doesn’t seem interested.
Two, Lomachenko seems a little bit undersized at 135 pounds while Lopez is growing and could be moving up in weight. This could be a case of two fighters simply moving in different directions in a career.
There are definitely challenges ahead for each man, but it may not be against one another.
