By: Sean Crose
Former lightweight kingpin Teofimo Lopez enters his second welterweight bout on Saturday night, when he faces Sandor Martin in a scheduled tenth round at Madison Square Garden. The Lopez-Martin match was the main event of a game broadcast live by ESPN.
Lopez responded to the opening bell by charging aggressively, though not as aggressively as when he faced George Kambosos in the only skirmish he’d lost to that point. Lopez collapsed in the first seconds of the second half. He quickly stood up, but was surprised to see Martin push him down onto the mat, even if only for a short while. With that in mind, Lopez appeared to have outplayed his men for the rest of the half.
The third match was like a chess match, with each man having his moments, with Lopez hunting and Martin fighting defensively. Martin landed well several times in the fourth inning, but Lopez did a good job shooting his man dead. Furthermore, Martin started bleeding quite a bit from the head impact. Martin had a solid fifth inning, but it was clear that Lopez was able to reach him while he retreated tactically.
Lopez started to look a bit frustrated in the sixth inning, as he was unable to frequently land his man. However, both men ended up shooting at each other in the final seconds of the round. It appeared that Lopez was the victim of a second quick knockdown early in the seventh round, although the referee deemed it a slip. The rest of the half was almost hard enough to score.
The eighth hit was almost razor-sharp, but Lopez’s straight hits may have helped him through it. By day nine, it looked like Martin’s patience might finally work against him. With only one round to go, no man prevailed. With that said, the tenth and final inning saw Lopez open fire, while Martin was able to make some impressive shots.
In the end, the referees awarded Lopez a split win, with a score of 95-94 for Martin, a point of 96-93 Lopez and a point of 97-92 for Lopez.
