NEW YORK–Teofimo Lopez became a two-division world champion with an emphatic 12-round unanimous decision over Josh Taylor to win the WBO Junior Welterweight title before a Madison Square Garden record crowd of 5,151.
The fight began with a fast pace with Taylor working the body. Lopez was able to land some “show me” right hands. Lopez started to foreshadow of things to come by landing quick and pinpoint right hands that was able to stop Taylor in his tracks. That assault came in rounds three through five, with round four being a big frame for “The Takeover” as he rocked Taylor. The two fighters took turns over the next four-rounds.
Lopez was terrific over the next three rounds as he dominant as hand speed proved to be too much. His right hand continuously found a home on the face of Taylor. In round 12, Lopez sealed the deal by hurting Taylor twice, with the latter being from a perfect right to the body that hurt Taylor.
Lopez, who was the undisputed lightweight champion, becomes a two-weight division champ by scores of 117-111 and 115-113 and is now 19-1. Taylor of Scotland is 19-1.
Xander Zayas remained undefeated by stopping Ronald Cruz in a eight-round junior middleweight bout.
Zayas dropped Cruz in the opening seconds with a powerful right hand. Zayas dominated the action and landed several hard flurry that had Cruz reeling on the ropes.
Zayas, 152.8 lbs of San Juan, PR won by scores of 80-71 on all cards and is now 16-0. Cruz, 152.4 lbs of Los Angeles, CA is now 18-3-1.
Said Zayas, “Thank you to all my Puerto Rican fans and to everyone that came out. This is a dream come true. I’m very happy to have fought during Puerto Rican Day Parade weekend. He was a tough guy. I was hitting him with everything. He didn’t want to go down. He was here to fight. He was motivated. He was tough. But we passed with flying colors. Unanimous decision. And we made the adjustments we needed to do.”
“He brought out the dog in me. I had to dig deep. I had to stay focused. I had to listen to my corner. And most importantly I had to have fun, which was the most important part. I had the crowd here cheering for me, so I was trying to stay as focused as possible.”
Robson Conceicao and Nicolas Polanco fought to a no-decision as a headbutt in round two deemed Polanco unable to continue.
Omar Rosario remained undefeated with a eight-round unanimous decision over Jan Carlos Rivera in a junior welterweight bout.
Rosario, 139.2 lbs of Caguas, PR won by scores of 77-75 and is now 11-0. Rivera, 138.4 lbs of Vieques, PR is 8-2.
Damian Knyba won an eight-round unanimous decision over Hiamann Olguin in a heavyweight fight.
Knyba, 261.4 lbs of Wodzyn, POL won by scores of 79-73 on all cards and is now 12-0, Olguin, 256.8 lbs of El Dorado, MEX is 9-6-1.
Bruce Carrington battered Luis Porozo and stopped him in round eight of their eight-round featherweight bout.
Carrington hurt Porozo in round eight and the fight was stopped at 2:17.
Carrington, 126.8 lbs of Brooklyn is 7-0 with five knockouts. Porozo. 126.4 lbs of Santo Domingo, DR is 16-7.
Henry Lebron remained undefeated with a 10-round unanimous decision over Carlos Rosario in a junior lightweight bout.
In round 10, Lebron dropped Ramos with a left hook.
LeBron, 129.2 lbs of Aguadilla, PR won by scores of 98-90 twice and 97-91 and is now 18-0. Rosario, 129.6 lbs Madrid, SPA is now 17-3.
