Teofimo Lopez was frustrated until the very moment he had his hand raised Saturday in New York.
The former 135-pound champion found it nearly impossible to catch the elusive Sandor Martin but landed enough punches to win a split decision in a relatively uneventful 10-round 140-pound title eliminator.
Two judges scored it for Lopez, 97-92 and 96-93. The third had Martin winning, 95-94.
Lopez (18-1, 13 KOs) blamed Martin (40-3, 13 KOs) for the lack of sustained action but also apologized to fans.
“It’s so hard to fight somebody like this when they’re running the whole time,” he said. “Every time this guy committed, I countered and got him every time. He just ran the whole time. It’s OK, though. We got a lot to work on. …
“I apologize to everybody tonight. This is not how we perform. But, listen, our dancer partner was running the whole time.”
The fight didn’t start well for either man. Martin suffered a cut on the bridge of his nose and might’ve broke it as a result of an accidental clash of heads in the opening round.
And Lopez went down from a grazing right counter punch early in Round 2, which left him in a hole on the scorecards.
They followed a pattern after that, Lopez trying, but mostly failing to corner his slick fleet-footed opponent around the ring and connect on single punches, Martin staying out of harm’s way and attempting to counter.
Lopez had some success when he could corner Martin but that rarely happened, which frustrated him throughout the fight.
In the end, both fighters seemed to have their share of success. That was reflected in the score of the judge who scored it 95-94, five rounds apiece when you factor in the knockdown.
The other two judges evidently rewarded Lopez for being the aggressor even though he didn’t find the target often. The judge who scored it 97-92 gave Lopez eight rounds.
Martin smiled when the decision was announced. He thought he won. Afterward, he pointed out that the referee made a mistake when he ruled a knockdown in the seventh round a slip.
“It was a surprise with the judges,” he said through a translator. “I won this fight clearly. For one judge, I only won two rounds? Really? There were two knockdowns.
“The referee didn’t count one of the knockdowns. He missed all of his punches. That’s a masterclass of boxing. That’s a robbery. But that’s the sport of boxing. “In the ring, I controlled all the action. The timing, the moments. In the ring, controlled everything with my will. Teofimo was overanxious. In the eighth round, his corner told him, ‘Hey, let’s do it. You could lose this fight.’”
The fact is that it wasn’t a pretty performance by Lopez but he had his hand raised, his second consecutive victory since he lost his titles to George Kambosos Jr. in November of last year.
Now Lopez is in position to challenge WBO junior welterweight titleholder Josh Taylor or possibly fight for the vacant WBC belt.
That’s what victory does for a prominent fighter, even one in which he struggled.
“We would love to fight Josh Taylor,” Lopez said. “We would love to fight Regis Prograis. Or even a rematch with George Kambosos. My whole thing now is just staying focused and staying devoted.”
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