There is a new kingpin of the lightweight division in boxing.
Teofimo Lopez out dueled the current pound for pound champion Vasiliy Lomachenko to win three of the four major lightweight belts, the fourth Lopez already owns.
Lomachenko rallied in the second half of the contest, but Lopez sealed the victory with a furious ending to the 12th round.
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The judges scored it 116-112, 119-109 and 117-113 for the Brooklyn native Lopez.
“All it is, it’s ‘The Takeover,’” Lopez said, referencing both his nickname and common catchphrase. “It’s time for the new generation to come up and it’s time for me to lead the way for everybody.”
Lopez out landed Lomachenko by a margin of 183 to 141, according to CompuBox. He also did well to hold off a late surge from Lomachenko as it was obvious that Lopez was visibly tiring.
“Honestly, it was just to keep pressuring him, that’s all you have to do. Use the jab and never give him the opportunity to set up,” Lopez said. “Every time he wanted to throw, I had something for him to break his momentum. He was coming off a 14-month layoff and I knew it was going to take him a long time to catch up.”
By the end of the best boxing match of 2020, you could clearly see a new boxing star has emerged on the scene. Lopez became the first fighter in the four-belt era to become an undisputed champion at lightweight and he isn’t even in his prime yet.
While Lomachenko fought a good fight, everyone wouldn’t mind if they ran this bout again in 2021.