Teofimo Lopez defeated Josh Taylor by unanimous decision to claim Taylor’s 140-pound WBO belt, giving Lopez the big belt in second division.
The official scores are 117-111, 115-113 and 115-113. Boxing Junkie scored 116-112 for Lopez, eight innings to four.
Lopez (19-1, 13 KOs) controlled the match for about a third of the way and dominated the rest, overtaking Taylor (19-1, 13 KOs), overtaking him and making him We were injured many times.
Taylor had a relatively strong start, hitting the most clean punches in the first few rounds. His body work is particularly good.
However, Lopez found a groove in the fourth round, proving that he is a super boxer and a faster, better athlete. Things got so bad for Taylor, the undisputed former champion, that he sometimes looked out of place.
Lopez dominated the action late in the game.
You can read a full report This.
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Midfielder Xander Zayas of Puerto Rico defeated Ronald Cruz of Los Angeles by a decisive match in an eight-round bout.
All three judges scored 80-71, eight rounds did not score.
Zayas (16-0, 10 KOs) knocked Cruz (18-3-1, 12 KOs) with his right hand 30 seconds after the opening bell and controlled the rest of the match, outdoing and overtaking Cruz.
Zayas, 20, is ranked by two of the four main sanctioning bodies.
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Josh Taylor will defend his 140-pound title against former 135-pound champion Teofimo Lopez on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden Theater in New York City (ESPN, ESPN+).
Card highlights start at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT. The main event will take place later in the show.
Boxing Junkie will post the results of the main event and other featured matches as soon as they are over. Just come back to this post and refresh when the time comes.
Full news – a battle story, photo gallery and analysis – will be posted in separate posts on the day of the battle and the day after.
Enjoy the battle!
