At the start of the opening round, Teofimo Lopez was on the front foot, while Shakur Stevenson set up shop on the back foot. Lopez tried to establish the jab, but his attempt was ineffective.
Inside the final minute of the opening round, Stevenson connected with a sharp left hand shot. During the course of the second round, Lopez returned the favor by landing a nice counter right.
The southpaw Shakur Stevenson looked extremely comfortable in the third round as he dictated the range and distance. Shakur’s sharp jab and the straight left hand were his weapons of choice.
Lopez started the fourth round on the front foot, trying to attack the body of Stevenson. As Teofimo made an attempt to get inside, Shakur landed a shot to the body, and it nearly caused Teofimo’s glove to touch the canvas.
As the fight reached the midway point, Teofimo Lopez was struggling to land something significant. Every time Lopez tried to get inside, he got countered by a sharp Stevenson punch.
In the seventh round of the bout, Stevenson was in complete control as he set the range, stood in the pocket, and consistently landed his offense. Meanwhile, his opponent, Teofimo Lopez, looked confused and ready to check out.
For the duration of the bout, the action remained one-sided. Shakur completely outclassed his bloodied and battered opponent. Shakur looked faster, stronger, and more skilled.
During the course of 12-rounds of boxing, Stevenson put on a master class type performance. At the conclusion of the contest, all three judges scored the bout (119-109) in favor of Stevenson.
With the victory, Shakur Stevenson (25-0, 11 KOs) won the Ring Magazine and WBO super-lightweight world titles. After the spectacular performance, the question became how far up does Shakur go on the pound for pound list?
Back in 2005, Floyd Mayweather Jr dominated two division world champion Arturo Gatti. After that career defining fight, Mayweather proceeded to elevate his status from star to mega star.
On Saturday night, Shakur Stevenson outclassed two division world champion Teofimo Lopez. During the post-fight press conference, Shakur was asked about the decisive victory against Teofimo. Was it his defining moment?
“Yeah, for sure, for sure. I think that was the moment,” Shakur said. “It was two young fighters in there. It wasn’t an old washed-up guy. It was a 28 year-old fighter, I’m 28 myself, and Teo’s actually younger than me. For me to go up another weight class and beat him and take his belt was a tremendous thing tonight.”
Read the full article here