Fansided

Twitter reacts to Teofimo Lopez defeating Vasyl Lomachenko for undisputed lightweight title

ByThomas Albano|
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - OCTOBER 17: In this handout image provided by Top Rank, Teofimo Lopez Jr celebrates after defeating Vasiliy Lomachenko (not pictured) in their Lightweight World Title bout at MGM Grand Las Vegas Conference Center on October 17, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Mikey Williams/Top Rank via Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - OCTOBER 17: In this handout image provided by Top Rank, Teofimo Lopez Jr celebrates after defeating Vasiliy Lomachenko (not pictured) in their Lightweight World Title bout at MGM Grand Las Vegas Conference Center on October 17, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Mikey Williams/Top Rank via Getty Images)

See how Twitter reacted to Teofimo Lopez besting Vasyl Lomachenko

In what was considered the biggest fight in boxing since the global coronavirus pandemic rocked the world, Teofimo Lopez can now claim to be the greatest lightweight on the face of the planet, as he defeated Vasyl Lomachenko and can now be considered the undisputed lightweight world champion.

A bout between Lomachenko and Lopez has been awaited for the last 18-24 months, as Lomacheko encapsulated boxing’s lightweight championships and Lopez made his way up the ranks while calling out Lomachenko.

Reactions to Teofimo Lopez upsetting Vasyl Lomachenko for the undisputed title

After having success at featherweight and super featherweight, Lomachenko stopped Jorge Linares in May 2018 to win the WBA (Super) lightweight championship and bested Jose Pedraza six months later for the WBO crown. He retained both titles by knocking out Anthony Crolla and then captured the WBC belt in a decision win over Luke Campbell.

While Lomachenko was elevated to WBC “Franchise” champion almost exactly one year ago, with the standard world title given to Devin Haney, the WBC reportedly granted, as requested by Lopez and his team, that the Franchise status be put on the line in this fight.

Lopez slowly crept up to Lomachenko in the 135-pound weight class ranks in that timespan, ultimately improving to 15-0 and winning the IBF lightweight title by stopping Richard Commey in two rounds in December, also giving him the right to face Lomachenko in an undisputed title fight.

The fight was a completely slow start for Lomachenko, and while he sometimes doesn’t come out the gate firing right away, it was quite noticeable against Lopez. The less-experienced fighter worked behind his jab and established a pace early, completely dominating the pound-for-pound star and landing well to the body.

Lomachenko finally turned things around in the eighth, beginning to fire back and overwhelm his foe with his combinations. Lomachenko was starting to turn up as Lopez’s gas tank was emptying, but Lomachenko still needed a knockdown to realistically get back in the fight.

That knockdown never came and Lopez hurt Lomachenko in a wild and close 12th round to bring the fight to the scorecards. While the scoring was all over the place with totals of 116-112, 117-111 and 119-109 (this contributor agreeing with the first), all three judges gave the fight and four championships to Lopez.

See how Twitter reacted to Lopez’s star-making performance:

https://twitter.com/TylersTake_/status/1317681677921972225

https://twitter.com/HeartBrokeKid87/status/1317683244180144130

With the win, Lopez scores arguably the upset of 2020 in boxing and keeps his undefeated record.

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