Teofimo Lopez upsets Vasiliy Lomachenko to unify lightweight titles - Fox News

Teofimo Lopez was brash enough to challenge Vasiliy Lomachenko, and good enough to beat him.

Lopez dominated early and finished strong Saturday night to win a unanimous 12-round decision over Lomachenko to unify the lightweight titles in a fight he demanded even though some thought he wasn't experienced enough.

Lopez took advantage of a slow start by Lomachenko to build up an early lead, then finished the fight with a big 12th round that left Lomachenko bloodied and beaten on the scorecards.

“I had to dig deep, man,”' Lopez said.

Lomachenko, ordinarily a slow starter, was too slow this time as he gave away rounds early as he tried to figure out the style of Lopez.

He threw punches only sparingly the first half of the fight, landing just 31 punches in the first seven rounds, before finally picking up the pace in the eighth round.

``I think the first half of the fight he got more rounds than I did but in the second half of the fight I took over,'' Lomachenko said.

In the 12th round Lopez outlanded Lomachenko 50 to 19 and opened up a cut that sent blood flowing down his face and prompted referee Russell Mora to stop the fight with 10 seconds left to have the ring doctor look at it before resuming.

``I love to fight and I can bang too.,'' Lopez said