Teofimo Lopez was down until the moment he raised his hand on Saturday in New York.
The former 135-pound champion was barely able to keep up with the elusive Sandor Martin but threw enough punches to claim a decisive win in a relatively unstable 10-round 140-pound title elimination match.
The two judges gave Lopez a score of 97-92 and 96-93. Martin won the third game, 95-94.
Lopez (18-1, 13 KOs) blamed Martin (40-3, 13 KOs) for acting impatient but also apologized to fans.
“It’s hard to fight someone like this when they’re always running,” he said. “Every time this guy commits a crime, every time I counterattack and get him. He’s just running the whole time. It’s fine, though. We have a lot of work to do. …
“I apologize to everyone tonight. This is not how we do it. But, listen, our dance partner was running all the time.”
The fight didn’t start well for either man. Martin suffered a cut on the bridge of his nose and may have broken it from an accidental head-on collision in the opening round.
And Lopez fell after an early right own goal in the 2nd Half, leaving him conceded on the scoreboard.
Then they followed a pattern, Lopez tried, but barely managed to corner his nimble-footed opponent around the ring and connect with single punches, Martin stayed out of danger and tried try to counterattack.
Lopez has had some success when it comes to cornering Martin but that rarely happens, disappointing him throughout the game.
In the end, both fighters seem to have their share of success. That is reflected in the referee’s score of 95-94, every 5th inning when taking into account the knockdown.
The other two referees clearly rewarded Lopez for being the aggressor even though he didn’t often find the target. The referee gave a score of 97-92 and gave Lopez eight innings.
Martin smiled as the decision was announced. He thinks he won. He then pointed out that the referee made the mistake of assuming a slip in the seventh inning.
“It was a surprise to the judges,” he said through an interpreter. “I have clearly won this war. As a judge, I only won two rounds? Really? There were two kills.
“The referee didn’t count one of the knockdowns. He missed all of his punches. It was a boxing class. It was a robbery. But that’s the sport of boxing. “In the ring, I control every action. Time, moment. In the ring, I control everything with my will. Teofimo was too nervous. On the eighth round, his corner told him, ‘Hey, let’s do it. You can lose this war.’”
In fact, it wasn’t a pretty performance from Lopez but he raised his hand, his second win in a row since he lost the title to George Kambosos Jr. in November of last year.
Now, Lopez is in a position to challenge for the WBO welterweight title Josh Taylor or possibly for the vacant WBC belt.
That’s what victory gives a brilliant boxer, even the victory he struggles with.
“We really want to fight Josh Taylor,” Lopez said. “We really want to fight Regis Prograis. Or even a rematch with George Kambosos. My whole job now is just focus and dedication.”
