NEW YORK (AP) — Teofimo Lopez was so unimpressive in his last fight that he was caught on camera afterward asking if he still had it.
Well, he definitely does.
Lopez captured a title in a second weight class Saturday night, beating formerly unbeaten Josh Taylor by unanimous decision to win the WBO’s junior welterweight belt.
Lopez, the former lightweight champion, hadn’t looked sharp lately after moving up to 140 pounds. But he delivered a superb performance inside Madison Square Garden, with punches that were just quicker and stronger than the champion’s.
“Josh Taylor is a tough dude. I can see why he beat so many fighters,” Lopez said. “But you’ve got to counter the counterpuncher. You’ve got to outsmart the man and get in there, and I did that.”
Lopez (19-1) won by scores of 115-113 on two cards and 117-111 on the other, and he threw power shots throughout the final round in hopes of not even getting to the scorecards.
Coming off a split decision victory last December that was followed by his questioning himself, Lopez looked like the fighter who had won multiple versions of the title at 135 pounds, highlighted by a victory over Vasiliy Lomachenko, before losing them to George Kambosos Jr. in November 2021.
“Tonight was for me and I like against all odds, I like when I question myself,” Lopez said. “I do it on purpose. I need the pressure on me because that’s what makes diamonds and tonight I shined very bright.”
The Associated Press scored it 117-111 for Lopez.
Taylor (19-1), the former undisputed champion at 140, lost the only belt he still owned. He had opted not to keep the other three while attempting to stage a rematch of his split-decision victory over Jack Catterall in February 2022. It had been scheduled but then postponed, with Taylor then moving on to Lopez.
Taylor ran into a revitalized performer who had to get up from a knockdown to edge Sandor Martin last time he fought at MSG. This time, Lopez was rarely in danger, and most times he was caught answered back quickly.
The Scotland native said he hoped for a rematch, but also indicated he may move up to welterweight.
“I definitely know I’m better than that, and I know I can beat him still,” Taylor said. “I’d love to do it again. But he’s the champ, so the ball is in his court.”
Lopez, who had been knocked down early in two of his last three fights, tried to set a quick pace by darting in close for power shots. He got caught with a couple good ones for his trouble in the first round but began having more success in the second.
Lopez landed some strong rights in the fourth, knocking Taylor backward in the final seconds of the round. The left-handed Taylor would often land something good early in a round, only for Lopez to quickly regroup and get the better of the action the remainder of it.
During a tense buildup, during which Lopez said he wanted to kill Taylor, the fighters were kept separated at their events this week, security positioned in between them so they could do nothing but yell toward each other.
Taylor vowed to make Lopez pay for his disrespectful comments once they got in the ring — and Lopez did apologize afterward — but during the fight the champion simply never found the answers.
They traded good shots in the eighth but Lopez made it clear he wasn’t affected by Taylor’s, taunting him with a dance and then stunning him with a lunging left in the corner late in the round.
He then hurt Taylor again in the ninth, driving him back into the ropes with another flurry as the champion’s face, already red around his eyes, began to show frustration, too.
A crowd that had been chanting “Teo! Teo!” since the start was standing toward the end, believing it might see the type of highlight knockdowns the Brooklyn-born Lopez had produced during his rise to the top at lightweight.
Those had been missing lately, with Lopez citing difficulties with his ex-wife for distracting him. His joy was back Saturday, smiling often throughout the bout, though said his next fight was in court, not the ring, with a custody battle for his son.
Afterward, he should have plenty of options after showing he is still a top-level fighter.
The announced attendance was 5,151, a sellout in the Theater at Madison Square Garden which promoter Top Rank said broke the gate record for a boxing event in the venue set in Lomachenko’s victory over Jose Pedraza in 2018.
In the co-feature, Puerto Rico junior middleweight Xander Zayas, fighting on the eve of the National Puerto Rican Parade, improved to 16-0 with a unanimous decision victory over Ronald Cruz (18-3-1).
