By: Sean Crose
Teofimo Lopez didn’t have a great night to himself on Saturday. Fighting in front of the Madison Square Garden hometown crowd, the former lightweight king faced the underrated Sandor Martin, who didn’t make things easy for him. Lopez won a decisive victory from the umpires, but there were those who felt he should have lost the match – and they seemed to be pretty much outnumbered. Truth is, I feel Lopez won, but wouldn’t be shocked or upset if Martin scored another shocking goal (this is the man who beat Mikey Garcia anyway).
Simply put, this is a question of preference. If you like aggression, Teo is your man. If you like patient precision, are defensively minded, then Martin is your man. As a rule, I usually pick the more accurate puncher, but in the case of Saturday night, I felt Martin ended up being too patient for his own good. Despite that, the Spaniard proved to be a challenge for Lopez, who was already showing clear signs of frustration. A comment caught on camera after the match, in which Teo loudly wondered if he was still in stock, quickly surfaced in the boxing media.
And so, now there are some who are questioning whether the boxer known as “The Takeover” is over. There are also those who, in the rich tradition of boxing fans, seem happy to now get rid of the guy. This is really funny. Lopez had a bad night on Saturday, but not a bad one. Duran had a terrible night giving up to Leonard. Tyson had a horrible night when he was knocked out by Douglas. Pacquiao had a horrible night when Marquez laid him flat. The fact that Lopez struggles with Sandor’s underrated skills most clearly does NOT count as a bad night.
The point here is that the fighting world should wait and see what happens to Lopez. Remember, he was a light terrorist who defeated none other than Vasyl Lomachenko before losing to George Kambosos. Also remember that Lopez stepped into the ring to face the Kambosos with a terrible game plan. Since then, this man has won two matches in a row – this time for the last time against an opponent whose skill everyone simply refused to recognize (When are we going to stop watching performances?) Martin’s strong performance was a gamble?). So it’s probably a little early to get rid of Lopez quickly. Provided he’s in an emotional mess, Tyson Fury, Lopez’s Highest Rated stablemate, has proven that can be handled – at least at some point. In the meantime, let’s wait and see what happens next before we abbreviate “The Takeover” too quickly.
