In what was a torturous watch, Teofimo Lopez successfully defended his WBO super lightweight title with a 12-round unanimous decision win over Jamaine Ortiz at the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas on Thursday.
The official scores were 117-111, 115-113 and 115-113.
There were no knockdowns. Neither fighter was seriously hurt. And you could count the amount of combinations over five punches on one hand. For the most part, Ortiz ran, ran, ran while Lopez chased, chased, chased. It was awful.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, you all can boo all you want,” said Lopez to a disenchanted crowd during his post-fight interview. “We cannot claim these fighters who don’t want to come and fight. You go through blood, sweat and tears. If you ain’t ready for this life, get the f__k out of my sport.
“I’m a champion. I bleed for this. I sweat for this. I cry for this.”
It was the fans who felt like crying at the end of this one.
Ortiz came out southpaw and boxed out of that stance for the entire fight. He moved well while Lopez pursued and may have edged a session that was devoid of much contact. That became a persistent theme in this fight.
The switch to the left-handed stance was perhaps designed to give Lopez flashbacks of Sandor Martin, the former European champion who pushed the Brooklyn star to the limit before losing a controversial decision in 2022.
The first three rounds were close, but it was difficult to score for Lopez because he wasn’t throwing enough punches. Ortiz worked the jab sporadically and made good use of the straight left hand to the body. The lefty stance continued to befuddle the champ who constantly had to reset his feet.
Implored by his corner to up the pace, Lopez came out more aggressively in the fourth. “The Takeover” nailed the challenger with a sharp right hand that backed him up, which finally gave the crowd something to cheer about. Timing the movement, Lopez also found the target with a powerful left hook to the head. In this session, Ortiz’s movement became less effective and he was essentially running away.
During the sixth, which was another round where ringsiders could have been forgiven for throwing a chair, Lopez began imploring Ortiz to fight. He yelled from centre ring at his opponent who simply responded with a wry smile. The constant movement was frustrating for all concerned and there wasn’t enough effective punching.
An accidental clash of heads opened a cut over Ortiz’s left eye in round seven. His movement also slowed and the champ found the mark with a couple of sharp rights. The fight threatened to ignite, but quickly descended back into the track meet and the crowd booed incessantly.
Lopez (20-1, 13 KOs) took the championship rounds on all scorecards, suggesting that the judges penalized Ortiz for avoiding contact. If you’re the B-side in Las Vegas, don’t expect to win a world championship with the stick-and-run. It’s been that way forever.
“I’ll fight [Terence] Crawford at a catchweight,” said Lopez when asked about his future plans.
After this fight, a Crawford vs. Lopez fight looks as far away as it ever has.
Ortiz falls to 17-2-1 (8 KOs).
–sportingnews.com
