Teofimo Lopez Muddles Through Boring Decision Win

With a huge spotlight due to Super Bowl weekend Las Vegas, WBO junior welterweight title holder Teofimo Lopez had an opportunity with an impressive showing to gain some attention and notoriety. Instead, his unanimous decision win over Jamaine Ortiz to retain his title was anything but that.

Despite the scores reading- 117-111 and 115-112 on the other two cards, neither Lopez nor the challenger  Ortiz did anything significant for 12 rounds of boring action in the Top Rank Boxing / ESPN main event three days before the Super Bowl in the same town.

Teofimo Lopez Muddles Through Boring Decision Win

The Fight Never Developed

Lopez, the former three belt lightweight champ, retained his belt despite only landing double figure punches in one of the first 12 rounds. Still, it didn’t really matter, because, neither fighter surpassed 80 punches landed for the entire fight.

Most of the bout was spent with Lopez, now 19-1, 13 KOs, trying to come forward, but not using an effective jab and Ortiz, who dropped to 17-1-1, content to move out of the way and try to counter, but largely missing most of those.

So, thirty six minutes of action was without the scoring of many significant punches.

Hear Dan Rafael and me off our “Big Fight Weekend Podcast” discussing the awful main event that Lopez got the decision in, by clicking play below.

The end result was a crowd in the Michelob Ultra Arena lustily booing both fighters from about the fourth round on. However, in the judges eyes the 25-year-old Lopez had done enough to retain the belt he won off of Scotland’s Josh Taylor in June of last year.

“Glory is next for me. None of these guys want to fight me,” Lopez told ESPN in the ring. “I’ll fight {Terence} Crawford at a catchweight. I’m here. I’m ready. I’ve always been ready. I’m younger, prettier, and a two-time unified champion at 25.”

The fight was so dull that the usually animated ESPN commentators Joe Tessitore and Tim Bradley spent many of the rounds mumbling and muttering about what wasn’t happening in the ring. Yet, in the end the judges felt that Lopez had done enough to garner the victory.

Davis Scored Impressive Undercard Win

In the co feature bout on Thursday night, lightweight rising star Keywshawn Davis of Norfolk, VA, scored a sixth round TKO over veteran Jose Pedraza. After a slow first round, Davis picked up the pace scoring with rights and lefts. Pedraza, who’s 34 years old, looked worn and was perhaps weight drained from having to move back down to 135 lb.

Davis, the 2021 Olympic Silver Medalist, opened a cut over Pedraza’s right eye and continued to score with lead right hands. The end came with a barrage of punches along the ropes staggering Pedraza. He, then trapped him and Davis, now 10-0, finished the bout with a series of rights and lefts forcing the stoppage.