Vasiliy Lomachenko vs. Teófimo López
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| Date | October 17, 2020 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Venue | MGM Grand Conference Center, Paradise, Nevada, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Title(s) on the line | WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and The Ring lightweight titles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Result | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| López wins via 12-round unanimous decision (116–112, 119–109, 117–111) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Vasiliy Lomachenko vs. Teófimo López, billed as Winner Takes All, was a unification professional boxing match contested between WBA (Super), WBO, and The Ring lightweight champion, Vasiliy Lomachenko, and IBF lightweight champion, Teófimo López. The bout took place on October 17, 2020, at the MGM Grand Conference Center in Paradise, Nevada. López defeated Lomachenko via unanimous decision (UD) with the judges' scorecards reading 119–109, 117–111, and 116–112.
Background
[edit]López' scored a second-round technical knockout victory against Richard Commey to capture the IBF lightweight title on December 14, 2019. In the same month, Lomachenko announced there was an agreement to face the newly crowned champion in a unification bout in April, saying, "On paper, there is an agreement that the match is going to happen, and it's going to happen in April. However, they have not yet established a date. This fight is happening in April."[1] On February 8, López hinted at a date and location for the fight on Twitter, with lyrics from the song "New York, New York", posting, "May 30th. Start spreadin' the news, I'm leaving today, I want to be a part of it. PP_?".[2] The proposed date was eventually scrapped due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with Lomachenko going back to his native home of Ukraine.[3] Bob Arum, promoter of both fighters, offered each an interim bout to take place in July, which both rejected. Arum stated the new date being looked at would be September.[4] After October was chosen as a new date, the fight appeared to be in jeopardy due to a pay dispute from López, who was unhappy with an offer of $1.25m while Lomachenko was set to earn in excess of $3.5m. With López' manager, David McWater explaining, "We think that [Lomachenko] probably deserves more money, but not three times as much. We’re hoping that there is enough impetus to get this fight done, and Top Rank will come back and talk to us".[5] On September 8, after weeks of difficult negotiations, the bout was finally announced for October 17, with the venue set for the Top Rank Bubble, located at the MGM Grand Conference Center in Paradise, Nevada.[6]
The fight
[edit]López defeated Lomachenko via unanimous decision with scores of 116–112, 119–109 and 117–111.[7] Judge Julie Lederman's scorecard of 119–109, giving Lomachenko only a single round, received significant controversy.[8] The fight started off with López finding his jab and going to the body to slow down his opponent. Lomachenko threw fewer punches in the first seven rounds, allowing López to control most of the first half of the fight. In the second half, Lomachenko started coming out more offensively, landing more punches. In the final round, López landed 50 of 98 punches thrown (51%), the highest ever in a round for an opponent Lomachenko has faced. CompuBox stats showed López was the busier of the two, landing 183 of 659 thrown (28%), while Lomachenko was more accurate landing 141 of 321 thrown (44%). López outlanded Lomachenko in 8 of the 12 rounds.[9]
Fight card
[edit]| Weight Class | Results | Method | Round | Time | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lightweight |  Teófimo López (c)
|
Def. |  Vasiliy Lomachenko (c)
|
UD | 12 | Note 1 | |
| Junior welterweight | Arnold Barboza Jr.
|
Def. | Alex Saucedo
|
UD | 10 | Note 2 | |
| Super middleweight | Edgar Berlanga
|
Def. | Lanell Bellows
|
TKO | 1 |
^Note 1 For Unified WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, The Ring, and lineal lightweight titles
^Note 2 For vacant WBO International junior welterweight title
Broadcaster
[edit]The fight was televised live on ESPN and streamed live on ESPN+ for the U.S. (in both English and Spanish languages) viewers only.
| Country/Region | Broadcaster | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Cable-TV | PPV | Streaming | |
 United States (host)
|
— | ESPN | — | ESPN+ |
| ESPN Deportes | ||||
| Ukraine
|
MEGOGO | |||
| Unsold markets[10] | — | FITE TV | ||
| — | Fight Sports | — | Fight Sports MAX | |
 Australia
|
— | Fox Sports | — | Foxtel Now |
| Kayo Sports | ||||
 France
|
— | beIN Sports | — | beIN Sports Connect |
 Japan[11]
|
— | Wowow | — | Wowow |
 Kazakhstan
|
Khabar | — | Khabar | |
| — | Space | — | TNT Go | |
 Mexico[13]
|
Azteca 7 | TV Azteca Deportes | ||
| — | Azteca En Vivo | |||
 Poland[14]
|
— | Polsat Sport | — | IPLA |
 Thailand
|
— | Fight Sports | — | — |
Viewership
[edit]The fight drew about 4.2 million viewers in the United States. When it aired live on television, it drew an average of 2,729,000 viewers and a peak of 2,898,000 viewers. On the ESPN app and ESPN+, the fight drew nearly 1.5 million viewers.[15]
References
[edit]- ^ Garcia, Aragon (December 23, 2019). "Vasyl Lomachenko has "agreement" on paper for Teofimo Lopez fight in April ⋆ Boxing News 24". Boxing News 24. Retrieved September 23, 2020.
- ^ Compton, Tim (February 8, 2020). "Teofimo Lopez Hints Vasily Lomachenko Fight Will Be On May 30 In New York On PPV — Boxing News". Boxing News 24/7. Retrieved October 18, 2020.
- ^ Idec, Keith (March 21, 2020). "Lopez: Lomachenko Fight Won't Happen May 30; Could Get Delayed Until Fall". BoxingScene.com. Retrieved September 23, 2020.
- ^ Idec, Keith (May 19, 2020). "Arum: Loma, Lopez Turned Down Interim Bouts; Planning Their Fight For September". BoxingScene.com. Retrieved September 23, 2020.
- ^ Akopyan, Manouk (August 8, 2020). "Lopez Manager: Very Little Effort From Top Rank To Get Lomachenko Fight Done". BoxingScene.com. Retrieved September 23, 2020.
- ^ Donovan, Jake (September 8, 2020). "Lomachenko-Lopez World Lightweight Championship Set, October 17 In Las Vegas". BoxingScene.com. Retrieved September 23, 2020.
- ^ "Teofimo Lopez vs. Vasiliy Lomachenko - Official Scorecards". Boxing Scene. Retrieved October 23, 2020.
- ^ Esco, Wil (October 21, 2020). "Vasiliy Lomachenko's manager takes issue with Lederman scorecard in Teofimo Lopez fight". Bad Left Hook. Retrieved October 23, 2020.
- ^ "CompuBox Punch Stats - Boxing News". Boxing Scene. Retrieved October 23, 2020.
- ^ "▷ Top Rank PPV Boxing Event - LOMACHENKO vs LOPEZ". FITE. Retrieved October 16, 2020.
- ^ "エキサイトマッチ～世界プロボクシング｜スポーツ | WOWOWオンライン". WOWOW (in Japanese). Retrieved October 15, 2020.
- ^ "Combate SPACE on Instagram: "Ambos saben cómo prepararse para subir al ring. Nadie sabe cómo bajarán ¡Lo veremos en VIVO por #CombateSPACE! ¿Quién es tu favorito en…"". Instagram. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
- ^ "#EsDeCampeón". Twitter (in Spanish). Retrieved October 17, 2020.
- ^ Redakcja. "Łomaczenko - Lopez na żywo w Polsacie Sport". ringpolska.pl - boks, MMA, sporty walki, największy portal bokserski w Polsce (in Polish). Retrieved October 17, 2020.
- ^ "Lomachenko-Lopez received over 4 million viewers over ESPN platforms on Saturday". The Ring. October 22, 2020. Retrieved November 9, 2020.