23 year old kid makes lomachenko look rather ineffective.

He broke his back, dude. His spinal.

Or was it his shoulder? I dont remember. I'm not too good at remembering stupid excuses. Maybe the judges were bribed, or an alien put drugs in his water. Who knows?

 

He swept half the fight. How did he look ineffective? If anyone was ineffective it was the one who was content with trying to potshot a decision against a guy 2 divisions smaller that got slapped around when that smaller fighter decided to push the pace.

 

Background: I've never been a massive Loma fan.

Loma definitely lost the fight. He did much better in the latter half, but he was completely inactive in the former and hence clearly lost. As to why, one significant factor has to be that Loma has been fighting way above his natural size for ages now -- it was bound to catch up with him, and I don't know how people can encourage such obvious nonsense. It is possible he also had an injury, but Loma blaming the judges massively undercuts that to point I'm not really seriously considering it. It's also possible it was somewhat of a fluke and Loma just had a bad night -- maybe he really had to take a **** for all we know. It's unfortunate Lopez is declining a rematch and does incline me towards thinking Lopez is worried it was a fluke too.

My conclusion: Probably primarily Loma fighting above his weight, with a fair contribution from Lopez surprising him (with skill and gameplan). I give Lopez credit as a great fighter, but nowhere near ATG, GOAT, or whatever -- at least not yet -- and I don't rank his skill near Loma's.

If they fought again, I suspect Loma could make the needed adjustments and I might favor Loma to overcome the size mismatch and win it, but I think he really needs to go back down in weight classes.

It's very unfortunate Loma blamed the judges and that will forever be a stain on his legacy. Corruption is a very real thing, but that's not why he lost that night.

 

I basically agree 100%

Although I do like to see fighters go up and challenge at higher weight classes, I don't personally think that was the difference, I think Lopez just wanted it more, especially in that 12th round, his game plan was spot on, he kept pivoting away from Lomas attempts to get his angles.

I also agree that if they had a rematch Loma could maybe be able to adjust and POSSIBLY beat Lopez, based on rounds 7-11.
When I watched the fight originally I remember thinking that Lopez's effort in the last round was one of the best heart performances I've seen lately.

I actually watch this fight again with my dad yesterday, I still feel the same way. Lopez easily could have assumed he might lose if he didn't push that last round.

Was a good fight, Loma needed to come earlier.

 

If they rematch I have Loma winning big.

His best work was better than Lopez' best work. Simple as that.

Lopez peaked in this fight - it took all of his mental energy, focus and reserves to pull this out of the bag and he'll never perform like this again.

 

I don't think there's much explanation required. A close fight with two good performances, one boxer just before his prime and the other at the later end of his.

Three years ago Loma would have picked Lopez apart, three years from now Lopez will be way too strong. It was a well timed matchup between two champions, a thing so rare they both deserve credit regardless of outcome and any poor sportsmanship.

The size difference is real but kinda besides the point. Loma was beating the rest of the pack at 135, he proved he was more dangerous than other, larger LW contenders.

The shoulder problem is a result of the choices he made to become great. All those amateur fights made him a top P4P pro but took a toll. Anything he did to preserve his shoulder could have reduced his training.

If the reason he came on in the second half is because the shoulder loosened up as he used it, then that was an error in his pre-fight preparation. Coming in cold is a common way to lose.

I would buy this if Lopez didn't win the 12th. Most of Loma's strongest supporters admit he lost at least one of the first four rounds, one of the middle four rounds, and one of the last four rounds.

He started faster against Linares and got caught with a right hand. Lopez's right is faster, straighter, and more powerful.

Loma would have to take risks to win a rematch, because they are very closely matched.

This might be because Loma is old and small, but small old Loma still dominates almost anyone else so it says a lot about Lopez that he even made it close.

 

And yes I do recognize the irony that I said it required no explanation then wrote a wall of text to explain.

 

You gotta look at it like this, Lopez fought the whole fight and prevailed in the 12th, Loma was more winded in the last round than Teo so if they both would have fought the whole twelve rounds, I think that Teo would have been the stronger down the stretch and would have probably stopped Loma.

 

I've been wrong plenty before too Rummy

 

When they actually FOUGHT, Loma was the better technician.

Lopez' strength was neutralising Loma's outpout and making him gun shy. Neither men were amazing in the first half.

In the rounds there WERE action (6-12) who won most of them?

The Lopez puzzle was a one-time anomaly. No way he goes anywhere near a rematch.

 

Really? Lomachenko was a -450 favorite. Place $450 to win $100. A HUGE favorite. (for the record, I thought Loma would win easily). You're criticizing the kid, whom by most impartial scorers was the rightful winner.

That should have been a schooling like Mayweather vs Canelo.

 

Definetely respect for Lopez, Vasil had bad gameplan and that's it. I am huge Loma fan, but Lopez showed great courage and boxing skills and won, there is nothing to argue about.

 

Obviously Loma is tiny and eventually size and power overrides a skill advantage. He's being playing with fire for a while regarding size disparity.

Don't let Canelo's recent exploits fool you. His rise in weight classes was also accompanied by remarkable physical gains, and he still lost to Golovkin and was losing to Kovalev before he suddenly became a one punch terminator of LHW's.