Technical precision of the highest caliber. I'm at a loss for words. "Undisputed Lightweight Champion" almost seems like an understatement. Lopez upsets Loma; youngest 4-belt champ ever
Interesting fight. Rounds 1-6 Lomachenko circling and prepping the distance (first 3 rounds all in the same direction!) while Lopez sitting in the centre and firing off blistering jabs at range and the odd power bodyshot to keep it honest. Lomachenko happy to soak up the punishment just to read his opponent but Lopez was superbly disciplined and by round 6 it was clear there was no massive flaw that could be exploited. Every attempt by Lomachenko to get on the inside and work on his angles smothered with a jab or counteracted with footwork with the ever present threat of the the power shot. Lomachenko's great assets, the brilliant close range footwork, the matador tai-sabaki-like angulation like to eliminate the opponents cross and maximise his power hand were all absent. He couldn't even do his (very risky and often purely for the sake of the viewing public) boxing/trapping-thing where he pats down the opponents hands and blasts alternate jabs and crosses with impunity. He simply was for most of the fight shut out of his area of excellence. By round seven it was clear Lopez was sticking to his plan and wasn't going to be dictated to, so Lomachenko came out of his tactical shell and made it a proper fight. But try and he might he could win the later rounds but not quite dominate and certainly didn't look close to getting the knock-out he was looking for. Lopez took a battering in the 11th round as the veteran looked for the win but Lopez dug deep. In the end though I'm a great Lomachenko fan and love his type of techno/tactical boxing It was definitely a win for Lopez. He had a plan, had the mental discipline to stick with it and keep it at the range where he could dictate the fight, and dug deep when he had to at the end. Points of interest/questions for discussion in the thread. 1)Like Lomachenko I'm a fake Southpaw. (I'm more comfortable in my mobility with powerside forward - and yes learning to cross with power with my non dominant hand took some time) The general rule when fighting southpaws is that you make sure that your foot is on the outside of the the opponents lead foot so that they can't move in and angulate without you reading the body movement. Incidentally in fencing is the exact same thing but with the weapon arm - you make sure you continuously jostle for the outside line position and deny the opponent that angle. So when sparring with orthodox boxers I always keep in mind where their lead foot is in relation to mine. Its not an absolute rule, but its a rule of thumb. But for most of that fight Lomachenko had his foot on the outside and still wasn't able to angulate and dominate on outside line. What else was Lopez doing to prevent the angulation? 2) The head clashing seemed to me a ploy to get one or the other out of the mental zone...not fond of that... 3) This the end for Lomachenko? 35 and counting with no rematch clause. Also the time off made him look rusty...I'm not entirely sure his lack of letting his hands go was entirely due to a tactical ploy. ...
"the matador tai-sabaki-like angulation" Please expound on this point. I somehow get a bullfighting metaphor but I don't think it's clear. "The end for Lomachenko? 35" and I had to stop there. What?? His amateur record is close to 400-1. Pro, it's 14-2. What does age matter?
