Teofimo Lopez notched an official win tonight in ESPN’s main event, but expect the criticism to follow as he was arguably very lucky to escape with a win over Sandor Martin.
Lopez (18-1, 13 KOs) started the fight aggressively as usual, but he really struggled to find the range on his punches, and consistently walked onto check hooks from Martin (40-3, 13 KOs) who was clearly prepared to execute a game plan of countering with that punch. Lopez did, however, manage to bust Martin’s nose during a clash of heads in the first round, and that would be something Martin would have to overcome for the rest of the fight with his breathing and bleeding clearly hampering him.
In the second round Martin would clip Lopez with a right hook as an off balanced Lopez hit the canvas, scoring an official knockdown for Martin and really declaring that Lopez would be in for a real fight.
Later Martin would catch Lopez with the same punch that would once again make Lopez hit the deck, but for whatever reason it wasn’t ruled a knockdown that time, and ultimately sealed his fate when the official scorecards were read. Lopez was, however, the fighter consistently coming forward, and that must’ve been what most impressed the judges.
One judge turned in a 95-94 card for Martin — which I also scored for BLH — while two other judges scored it 96-93 and a deeply questionable 97-92 card in favor of Lopez, giving him the split decision win.
Even with the win, Lopez failed to impress, showed his limitations and an inability to adapt, and didn’t give as much entertainment value as he promised as evidenced by the largely quiet crowd. There will be real questions asked of him going forward and it’ll be interesting to see how he handles the scrutiny.
Lopez vs Martin highlights
Jared Anderson TKO-2 Jerry Forrest
American heavyweight prospect Jared Anderson (13-0, 13 KOs) made short work of veteran Jerry Forrest (26-6-2, 20 KOs) tonight, stopping him in the second round of action after he but a pretty brutal beating on him in the opening round.
Anderson did show some defensive lapses as Forrest was able to time some good clean counters, but he just didn’t pack enough firepower to keep Anderson honest. Anderson would largely walk through Forrest’s shots and unload a barrage of his own punches, which would have a ringside doctor taking a good look at Forrest to start the second. In the second Anderson picked up where he left off, and one final big shot looked to put Forrest out on his feet, and the referee immediately stepped in to stop it at the 1:34 minute mark.
Xander Zayas UD-8 Alexis Salazar
Young Puerto Rican prospect Xander Zayas (15-0, 10 KOs) handled his business tonight on ESPN, taking care of Alexis Salazar (24-5, 9 KO) over eight rounds of action, with the official judges turning in scores of 80-72, 79-73, and 79-73. Zayas started quickly, landing a big shot in the opening round, but then seemed to slow down — at least a bit — although he never really lost control of the fight with Salazar.
Zayas did, however, find difficulty in putting this fight away as he found himself a little too flat-footed, squaring up straight to where he couldn’t easily find angles to land against a defensive Salazar. Even still, Zayas did more than enough to take a win here, but he’ll likely need to improve on those nuances as he moves up in competition.
Keyshawn Davis UD-8 Juan Carlos Burgos
In the ESPN opener, Keyshawn Davis (7-0, 5 KOs) put on a stellar performance, completely dominating an overmatched Juan Carlos Burgos (36-7-3, 21 KOs) over the distance, sweeping him on the cards. Davis started the fight showcasing a fast jab and a good right hand behind it, and it was quickly apparent that Burgos didn’t want to take any chances, and fought very defensively in order to last as long as he could.
As the rounds wore on Davis was able to put more and more punishment on Burgos, but he wasn’t ever able to land a shot to stop or drop him, although he did visibly hurt him at couple of times. After the eight rounds of action the judges turned in three scores of 80-72.