Former two division world champion Carl Frampton was very impressed with the recent performance by Luis Alberto Lopez.
This past Saturday night at the SSE Arena in Belfast, Lopez retained the IBF featherweight world title with a fifth round knockout of Irish Olympian Michael Conlan.
Lopez was coming off an impressive win over Josh Warrington, with the Mexican fighter traveling to Leeds to win a twelve round decision to capture the IBF crown.
Conlan was getting his second opportunity at a world title. Last year, he appeared to be on the verge of knocking out Leigh Wood – but Wood rallied in the second half of the contest and knocked Conlan out in the twelfth round.
Against Lopez, Conlan stated fast and aggressive from the opening bell. Lopez would slowly adapt and began to land damaging punches as the fight played out.
During the fifth round, Lopez landed a big uppercut which knocked Conlan out cold. The referee waved off the fight as Conlan’s corner threw in the towel.
Frampton, who in the weeks leading up to the fight had tabbed Conlan to pull it off, was ringside for the match and came away with a higher level of respect for Lopez’s abilities as a boxer.
“Lopez is an incredible fighter,” Frampton told Mirror Fighting. “Really good, really unorthodox coming in from different angles and I think he could be someone we’re talking about for a number of years’ time. It’s going to be hard to beat that kid. It was always going to be a hard fight, it was never going to be easy but I did fancy Mick but after a round I said it would be a hard night for him.”