A critical look at the past week in boxing
GOOD
The ascension of a young prodigy is always something to behold.
Teofimo Lopez Jr., only 23, has been knocking on the door of stardom for some time. He took a significant step and generated excitement when he annihilated Richard Commey in two rounds to win a major lightweight title last December.
But he enjoyed his true coming out on Saturday in Las Vegas.
Lopez has said for a few years that he would beat pound-for-pound king Vasiliy Lomachenko if they were to meet and then he did it, outboxing a boxing wizard to win a unanimous decision and become undisputed lightweight champion.
He fought carefully but with purpose in the first half of the fight, when Lomachenko was curiously inactive. And he showed the poise and determination of a more mature fighter when the Ukrainian rallied in the later rounds.
Lopez was particularly impressive in the 12th and final round, when he defied the instructions of his father-trainer by fiercely attacking Lomachenko to finish with a flurry.
Turns out he didn’t need to win that round. He won by scores of 116-112, 119-109 and 117-111, an astonishing outcome given Lomachenko’s track record and the relative inexperience of the Honduran-American. Boxing Junkie scored it 116-112 for the winner.
Lopez seemed to have special ability going into the fight but had yet to prove it. Now we know he’s the real deal.
***
BAD
We should applaud Lomachenko. He is a natural 130-pounder – at most – yet moved up to 135 in search of bigger challenges, which was risky. We saw vulnerabilities in him in victories over Jorge Linares and Luke Campbell at 135 that we hadn’t seen before.
And, on Saturday, he finally stretched himself too far. Linares and Campbell are good; Lopez obviously is a step up from him.
I don’t understand what Lomachenko was thinking in the first half of the fight. It made sense to fight carefully against a strong, big-puncher like Lopez but you can’t give away half the rounds as a result of inactivity and expect to win.
Lomachenko threw only 58 punches in the first six rounds, according to CompuBox. That’s 9.7 per round. And he landed an average of 4.2. That’s why he lost all those rounds on all three cards.
Yes, he was coming off a 14-month layoff. Yes, he’s going on 33. And, yes, he didn’t want to get caught with a big shot. Still, you have to let your hands go if you want to win.
Lomachenko engineered a valiant rally, picking up his work rate and trading punches toe-to-toe at times to give himself a chance and turn a so-so fight into entertaining one. Alas, it wasn’t enough. The great “Hi-Tech” had met his match. Lopez was too quick, too big and ultimately too good for him.
The loser might be kicking himself now, wishing he has been more active in the early rounds. It probably wouldn’t have made a difference, though. Lomachenko’s time seems to have passed.
***
WORSE
More horrible scorecards reared their ugly heads on Saturday.
Julie Lederman is recognized a good judge. And she had the right man winning in the Lomachenko-Lopez fight, which is more important than the margin of victory. However, her score – 119-109 for Lopez – has baffled many and angered some. And rightfully so.
That score means she gave Lopez 11 of the 12 rounds. She gave Lomachenko only Round 11. Television commentator and former champion Andre Ward scored it 114-114, which was curious in the other direction. Others had it as close as 115-113 for Lopez.
Lomachenko seemed to win at least half of the final six rounds, which would’ve made the score 117-111 if you give Lopez the first six. He picked up his pace, he had Lopez on the defensive at times, he had the momentum.
Five rounds to one for Lopez in Rounds 7 to 12 just seemed out of whack.
Promoter Bob Arum said afterward that he would be happy if Lederman no longer worked bouts involving his fighters, which is probably overkill given Lederman’s track record, but his feelings are understandable.
And, sadly, that wasn’t the only rogue card on Saturday. Most observers believe that Miguel Vazquez did more than enough to earn a decision over Lewis Ritson in Peterborough, England. Somehow two judges scored it for Ritson — 115-113 and 117-111 – giving him a split-decision victory.
The 117-111 score from veteran judge Terry O’Connor was widely criticized. Nine rounds to three for Ritson? No way. That score was more disgraceful than Lederman’s because it would be impossible to justify and he had the wrong man winning.
To make matters worse, an image apparently showing O’Connor looking at his phone during the eighth round has emerged. He might be finished as a judge if an investigation confirms what we appear to see in the photo.
Once again, we can only hope the powers that be take steps to improve scoring.
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