Madison Square Garden, New York City – Teofimo Lopez (19-1, 13 KOs) proved the critics wrong, as he controlled the majority of the fight and was damaging previously unbeaten Josh Taylor (19-1, 13 KOs) with heavy punches to capture the WBO junior welterweight title with a twelve round unanimous decision.
The scores were 115-113, 115-113 and 117-111.
Taylor was coming back from a very long stint of inactivity, with his last bout being a controversial twelve round split decision win over Jack Catterall in February of 2022.
Lopez was coming back from a lackluster win over Sandor Martin.
When they entered the ring, Taylor was a huge favorite to come away with the victory.
But by the end of the third round, Lopez began to take over the entire fight.
Taylor had no answers for Lopez speed, power punch combinations and defense.
Most ringside observers had the fight scored closer to the one tally of 117-111, with many of them wondering how two judges found five rounds to score for Taylor.
In the aftermath, Taylor had no excuses for the outcome. He wants a rematch with Lopez – which is highly unlikely at this point in time. The popular Scottish fighter also mentioned the possibility of heading up to the welterweight limit of 147-pounds.
“No excuses,” said Taylor. “It wasn’t my best. The better man won tonight. I’ve got no excuses. I fought to the best of my ability. He was better than me tonight. It is what it is. Congratulations to Teofimo.
“I thought it was a close fight. I’d love to do it again. I definitely know I’m better than that, and I know I can beat him still. I’d love to do it again. But he’s the champ, so the ball is in his court.”