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Teofimo Lopez (File Photo / Getty Images / AFP
LOS ANGELES – Undefeated Teofimo Lopez stunned Vasiliy Lomachenko by unanimous decision on Saturday to become the undisputed world lightweight champion in Las Vegas.
Lopez defended his 135-pound IBF lightweight title and snatched the WBC, WBO and WBA belts from Ukrainian Lomachenko, who suffered his first loss in six years.
“I’m ready to take over the world,” said Lopez, who won by scores of 119-109, 117-111 and 116-112.
Lopez, 16-0 with 12 knockouts, became the lightweight king in a fight that seemed closer than the judges’ crooked scorecards posted at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino.
In the biggest fight of his career, Lopez of the USA dominated the first half before Lomachenko returned in later rounds to set the stage for an exciting final round.
At 23, Lopez is the youngest fighter to become the undisputed four-belt champion. He did it in an empty MGM arena where spectators were banned due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Lopez received a nasty cut over his right eye from an accidental header in the final round, but was able to continue.
Lomachenko, defending for the fourth time the title he took from Venezuelan Jorge Linares in 2018, was enraged by the decision and immediately left the ring after the scores were announced.
“I think I won the fight,” Lomachenko said. “But I am not going to discuss it now.
“In the first half of the fight he won more rounds. In the second half I took over. I do not agree with the scorecards. “
Lomachenko is an unusually slow starter and that was the case once again on Saturday. He didn’t start landing meaningful combinations until the seventh or eighth round, which left him with a big hole to get out of.
Lomachenko fell to 14-2 with 10 knockouts. He was coming off a unanimous decision win over England left-hander Luke Campbell last August in London.
Lopez, a native of Brooklyn, was making the first defense of his IBF title that he sacked by stopping Richard Commey of Ghana in the second round last December at Madison Square Garden. He has not lost since his last amateur fight at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
López represented Honduras at the Rio Games when he could not be part of the America team.
Lomachenko, the 2008 and 2012 Olympic champion, was a 3-1 favorite heading into the fight.
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