I think that's unfair on Lopez. Lopez fought a good composed fight against a much more experienced opponent. Loma was fresher in the later round because he'd been doing almost nothing early, and Lopez clearly won the last. Even in the second half I think it was far from a shut out, with Loma winning the exchanges, but Lopez still putting the work in inbetween to help even things. Plus Loma only really got involved in the exchanges when it was near perfect for him, so of coure he got the better of them. Had he been more aggresive early, he wouldn't have been as fresh, and he probably wouldn't have had as big an advantage in the exchanges was he being less picky about when to exchange. Loma certainly needed to take more risks and press the fight sooner, but how that would've affected the result is a lot more complex than just more of the exchanges he was winning. Loma is still a great fighter, and showed great skills at times, but struggled to find his rhythm. All in all I thought it was a pretty good fight, though not a masterclass from either, and Lopez was just better on the night.
No horse in the game but I had it close to a draw or at worse, 5 rounds to Loma. Close fight. Loma made the mistake of throwing no punches in the first 5 rounds. I think he wins the rematch 7-5/8-4 type of fight if he presses the fight earlier. Also, his strategy late game didn't pay off because Lopez wasn't worn down enough, it was basically a 7 round fight for Lopez because of such low levels of activity the first 5.
I thought it was a close fight and there is plenty of room for improvement in Loma's performance. Id like to see an immediate rematch.
Loma presses the fight early and he goes to sleep. You guys act like it's just a matter of Loma wanting to beat lopez or not
Loma was too european last night - the agreed procedure to win wasnt working but he was unable to change tack quickly enough. He wasnt willing to allow Lopez to cause him to change his plan of attack, he didnt want those optics for the judges, or feed Lopez' confidence - so he sat back and bid his time - and consequently did basically nothing for 6 rounds. It's ok to change plans of attack if your opposition has prepared well against you; that's perfectly reasonable and foreseeable. It shouldn't mean he's necessarily throwing you off - just causing you to reconfigure. Loma didnt have that plan B. And why would you if youve used plan A for 20 yrs with great success. Hopefully Loma becomes a more versatile fighter after this. He can certainly win the rematch but it will take some 4d chess to do it.
I agree, people are not thinking it through I think his biggest weakness is that he didn't score when he was on the back foot. He would barely throw a punch until he was perfect to switch to offence. As I said above Loma just exchanging more would've meant a much lower success rate in those exchanges, and he would've been significantly more tired late, and yeah a significant risk of a knock out. A big part of why he did better when they got into exchange, is because he'd only do it on his terms. Meanwhile Lopez throughout was jabbing, going to the body, scoring punches.
Tim bradley, towards the 9th round, took my words out of my mouth when he said you have to ''forget who you are and get your hands dirty''
It was a deeply flawed strategy, but he fought that way for a reason. He needed to do more, I'm just making the point it's nowhere near as simple as if he does more he wins.
Exactly. Lopez' team will study the final 5 rounds and be prepared for a rematch. They're a fairly cerebral bunch, whatever you think of them. I still think Lomachenko will need to implement something resembling his last half of this fight for the rematch and hope it comes off. Lopez wasnt breaking a sweat for the first half and that'll need to change if Loma stands a chance. That conserved energy allowed Lopez to dig really deep and cement the win in the 12th
Since Loma This content is protected ko's misguided attempt at converting to pacifism during the first half of the fight against Lopez was shown to be ineffective, he'll realign with the true warrior within himself to win the rematch convincingly.
Tbh Lopez beats him again i think Last night was imo a 7-5 score at best for Lopez, id more place it at 8-4 Loma felt the power early and thought he would go in on lopez when he tires Guys 23 and not tiring out easy But the time he realised this it was too late Even if he goes in earlier in a rematch, the power scared Loma last night and will again He ain't that guy to get stuck in when the goings tough
Yeah, this crucial part seems to get quite forgotten by some for some reason. Also, he had Loma in real trouble in the 12th, when the ref inexplicably stepped in to make a fuss about the eyebrow. If Loma starts out more aggressive in a rematch, as he would have to, chances are that a fresher Lopez will catch him like that again or worse. And it's not like only Loma can improve on last nights performance. Lopez and his team will look at rds 8-11 and say that his inexperience showed there, that he waited for Loma way too much and neglected his jab, that had been the key to the success of the previous rds. He is a young guy improving with every fight and have just got a massive boost of confidence and now knows for sure that he belongs on this level. Loma will have to improve a lot on last nights performance to get past a steadily improving Lopez.