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Avila Perspective, Chap. 198: Teofimo Lopez and More

When you take a look at Teofimo Lopez in the prize ring its easy to determine that he possesses athleticism that few can rival. The speed, power, stamina are his to command and he drips with confidence.
Sometimes that turns off fans.
The uber athletic Lopez (16-1, 12 KOs) jumps back in the prize ring, this time at super lightweight and faces Mexico’s Pedro Campa (34-1-1, 23 KOs) on Saturday, Aug. 13, in Las Vegas at Resorts World. ESPN will show the Top Rank card.
“It’s the takeover, the take back, whatever you want to call it,” says Lopez, 25.
It’s Lopez’s first fight since his upset loss to George Kambosos Jr. last November in New York City. It’s one thing to lose a decision out-of-town, its another to lose in your hometown.
Maybe it was a case of the rival boroughs?
Brooklyn-raised Lopez sauntered into Madison Square Garden with a swag worthy of Rick James, then walked out as mystified as pitcher Pedro Martinez after another Yankee shellacking. Boxing can be like that sometimes.
Though both fighters in the lightweight title clash traded knockdowns and it seemed Lopez was on his way to victory, the judges scored in favor of the Aussie and many fans agreed. It was a costly loss. Now Lopez returns at a heavier weight and ready to “take over.”
Las Vegas
Mexico’s Campa has the height advantage and has plenty of experience against other sturdy Mexicans. This is only the second time he laces up outside of Mexico and even then, he fought a fellow countryman. But he packs power.
“He’s a Mexican veteran. 23 knockouts. Mexican style. Comes forward to fight and it’s all about connect when I need it,” said Lopez about his foe on Saturday.
The Brooklyn native feels confident and ready to regain his place at the top of the summit.
“It’s hard to be humble when you are as great as I am,” he says.
Despite the loss last year, Lopez has no doubt he can reload and defeat any of the champions or contenders at super lightweight. He doubts they will accept the challenge.
“All those boys don’t want it. I even called out Tank,” said Lopez claiming that promoter Floyd Mayweather is protecting Gervonta Davis.
In this fight Lopez expects a sturdy test from Campa.
“You are going to see the fruits of my labor and how the doors open up after this,” he said.
Campa hears and reads all the talk on the Internet and enlisted the help of famed trainer Manny Robles for this fight.
“I really don’t care what people think. I know what I’m facing too. He’s a great fighter one of the best,” said Campa. “So, I’m just concentrating and I think I’m going to win. I’m just very prepared about this fight.”
Former champion Lopez expects no less than a battle.
“This guy is in front of us wants to stop my dreams. Every time we step in the ring, I’m risking my life. We double down, every time,” said Lopez at the press conference on Thursday. “This is going to be an all-out war and I love that.”
Lopez is reloading.
Other Bouts
Puerto Rican super welterweight bomber Xander Zayas (13-0, 9 KOs) meets Mexican tough guy Elias Espadas (22-4, 15 KOs) who has never been knocked out in an eight round bout for the vacant NABO junior middleweight title.
“I’m anxious fighting for my first regional title,” said Zayas, 19, at media day in Las Vegas. “I’m excited to be on this card with Teofimo and all the prospects.”
Local prospect Andres Cortes (17-0, 10 KOs) fights Mexico’s Abraham Montoya (20-3-1, 14 KOs) in a lightweight match set for eight rounds. Cortes has three consecutive knockout wins. Montoya has never been stopped.
Light heavyweight clash looms
A potential championship fight between current WBA light heavyweight titlist Dmitry Bivol and Mexico’s Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez was announced Wednesday by Golden Boy Promotions after the WBA stamped the Mexican as a legitimate mandatory.
“We find the ruling fair and honest considering Zurdo Ramirez has fought two elimination bouts and has been the number one contender for this fight since his victory against Sullivan Barrera in 2021. We will continue to work hard to support Ramirez as he campaigns to one day become a two-division world champion,” stated Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya on Wednesday.
Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs) recently defeated Saul “Canelo” Alvarez this past May in Las Vegas and has held the WBA title since 2017 after defeating Sullivan Barrera. The Russian fighter has defended it seven times since.
Mexico’s Ramirez (44-0, 30 KOs) formerly held the WBO super middleweight title and defended it six times since 2016. He has five fights under his belt since moving up to the light heavyweight class.
Top Rank in SD
Next week, Top Rank returns to San Diego, CA., with WBO featherweight titlist Emanuel Navarrete defending once again at Pechanga Arena on Saturday, Aug. 20. This time the Mexican warrior known as “El Vaquero” fights fellow Mexican Eduardo Baez of Mexicali.
It’s a loaded fight card also featuring welterweight contender Giovani Santillan, Lindolfo Delgado, and Nico Ali Walsh the grandson of the late great Muhammad Ali.
Tickets are on sale.
Fights to Watch
Saturday, ESPN+ 3:35 p.m. Jose Durantes (21-2) vs Edy Mercado (19-7-6)
Saturday, ESPN 7 p.m. Teofimo Lopez (16-1) vs Pedro Campa (34-1-1).
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High Drama in Japan as ‘Amazing Boy’ Kenshiro Teraji Overcomes Seigo Yuri Akui

Overshadowed by countrymen Naoya Inoue and Junto Nakatani, Kenshiro Teraji embossed his Hall of Fame credentials in Tokyo tonight with a dramatic 12th-round stoppage of Seigo Yuri Akui. At stake were two pieces of the world flyweight title. A two-time world title-holder a division below (108), Teraji (25-1, 16 KOs) was appearing in his 16th world title fight.
This Japan vs. Japan matchup will go down in Japanese boxing lore as one of the best title fights ever on Japanese soil. Through the 11 completed rounds, Akui was up 105-104 on two of the cards with Teraji up 106-103 on the third. However, judging by his appearance, Akui was more damaged. The stoppage by Japanese referee Katsuhiko Nakamura, which came at the 1:31 mark of the final round with Akui still standing, struck some as premature but the gallant Akui was well-beaten.
A second-generation prizefighter, Kenshiro Teraji, 33, came bearing the WBC 112-pound belt which he acquired this past October with an 11th round TKO of Nicaraguan veteran Cristofer Rosales. The 29-year-old Akui (21-3-1) was making the second defense of the WBA strap he won with a wide decision over previously undefeated Artem Dalakian.
Although Teraji keeps on rolling – this was his seventh straight win which began with a third-round blast-out of Masamichi Yabuki, avenging his lone defeat – things aren’t getting any easier for the so-called “Amazing Boy.” In his last three fights, which include a hard-earned majority decision over Carlos Canizales, he answered the bell for 35 rounds.
By and large, fighters in his weight class don’t age well. While Teraji is starting to slip, he has no intention of retiring any time soon. His goal, he says is to unify the title and eventually move up a notch to pursue a world title in a third weight class. The other pieces of the 112-pound title are currently the property of Mexico’s Angel Ayala who defends his IBF diadem against Yabuki later this month and LA’s Anthony Olascuaga who was in action on tonight’s undercard.
Other Bouts of Note
Olascuaga, a stablemate of Junto Nakatani, trained by 2024 TSS Trainer of the Year Rudy Hernandez, advanced to 9-1 (6) with a hard-earned unanimous decision over Hiroto Kyoguchi. The judges had it 118-110 and 117-111 (scores condemned as too wide) with the third judge having it 6-6 in rounds but scoring it 114-113 in acknowledgement of the knockdown credited to Olascuaga in round 11, the result of a short left that produced a delayed reaction.
Olascuaga was making the second defense of his WBO belt in his fifth straight trip to Japan. In his lone defeat, he was thrust against the formidable Teraji as a late sub, acquitting himself well in defeat (L TKO 9) despite having only five pro fights under his belt and having only 10 days to prepare. Kyoguchi (19-3) had previously held titles in the sport’s two smallest weight classes.
In a big upset, Puerto Rico’s Rene Santiago, thought to be well past his prime at age 32, wrested the WBO light flyweight title with a unanimous decision over Shokichi Iwata who was making the first defense of the title he won with a third-round stoppage of Spain’s previously undefeated Jairo Noriega. Tokyo’s Iwata was a consensus 9/1 favorite.
Santiago, who advanced to 14-4 (9), won by scores of 118-110, 117-111, and 116-112. It was the second loss for Iwata who had knocked out 11 of his first 15 opponents.
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Keith Thurman Returns with a Bang; KOs Brock Jarvis in Sydney

The combination of age and ring rust made Keith Thurman a tricky proposition against Brock Jarvis, but the 36-year-old Floridian, a former WBA and WBC world welterweight champion, had too much firepower for the overmatched Aussie, knocking out Jarvis in the third round tonight in Sydney and setting up a massive fight with Tim Tszyu.
Thurman’s career has been repeatedly interrupted with injuries. He missed all of 2023 and 2024 and this was only his second fight back since being out-pointed by Manny Pacquiao in 2019. He was slated to fight Tszyu in March of last year in Las Vegas with two 154-pound straps on the line, but pulled out with a biceps injury and was replaced by Sebastian Fundora who saddled the snakebit Tszyu with his first defeat.
Against Brock Jarvis, Thurman started slowly. The TV commentating team, which included Tszyu and Shawn Porter, had the busier Jarvis winning the first two rounds. But the savvy Thurman was simply “processing data” and found his grove in the third frame, smashing Jarvis to the canvas with a combination climaxed by a wicked uppercut. Jarvis staggered to his feet but was a cooked goose and the referee waived it off immediately when Jarvis hit the deck again after absorbing a harsh left hook. The official time was 2:19 of round three.
It was the second bad loss for Jarvis (22-2), a noted knockout puncher who had previously been stopped in the opening round by countryman Liam Paro. He hails from the Sydney suburb of Merrickville which also spawned Hall of Famer Jeff Fenech, Jarvis’s former trainer.
Thurman advanced to 37-1 with his twenty-third win inside the distance. According to Tszyu’s promoter George Rose, the match between Thurman and Tszyu will finally come to fruition on July 6, likely at the Gold Coast Convention Center in Broadbeach. That’s predicated on the assumption that Tszyu wins his next fight without complications which comes on April 6 against Minnesota’s 19-1 Joey Spencer at Newcastle, Australia.
Other Bouts of Note
Melbourne Middleweight Michael Zerafa, who also covets a match with Tim Tszyu, improved to 33-5 (21 KOs) with a seventh-round stoppage of Germany’s obscure Besir Ay (19-2) who was on the deck twice before the referee waived it off. This was the second fight back for Zerafa after getting pulverized by Erislandy Lara who stopped him in the second round in March of last year. Ay, 35, is recognized as the middleweight champion of Germany.
In a middleweight match slated for 10, Tim Tszyu’s longtime sparring partner Cesar Mateo bombed out Sergei Vorobev in the fifth round, ending the match with a spectacular one-punch KO. The 26-year-old Mateo (18-0-1, 11 KOs) is a native of Tijuana. Vorobev (20-3-2) is a 30-year-old Sydneysider born in Russia.
Thurman vs. Jarvis, a pay-per-view event in Australia, aired in the U.S. on a tape-delay on the PBC youtube channel.
Photo credit: Grant Trouville / No Limit Boxing
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Friday Boxing Recaps: Observations on Conlan, Eubank, Bahdi, and David Jimenez

Friday Boxing Recaps: Observations on Conlan, Eubank, Bahdi, and David Jimenez
March 7 was an unusually heavy Friday for professional boxing. The show that warranted the most ink was the all-female card in London, a tour-de-force for the super-talented Lauren Price, but there were important fights on other continents.
Brighton
Michael Conlan, who sat out all of 2024 on the heels of being stopped in three of his previous five, returned to the ring in the British seaside resort city of Brighton in a shake-off-the-rust, 8-rounder against Asad Asif Khan, a 31-year-old Indian from Calcutta making his first appearance in a British ring.
Conlan, a 2016 Olympic silver medalist who famously signed with Top Rank coming out of the amateur ranks, is now 33 years old. Against Khan, he was far from impressive, but did enough to win by a 78-74 score and lock in a match with Spain’s Cristobal Lorente, the European featherweight champion.
Conlan, who improved to 19-3 (9), absorbed a lot of punishment in those three matches that he lost. With his deep amateur background, Michael has a lot of mileage on him and he would have been smart to call it quits after his embarrassingly one-sided defeat to Luis Alberto Lopez. His frayed reflexes speak to something more than ring rust. Heading in, Khan brought a 19-5-1 record but had scored only five wins inside the distance.
Conlan vs Khan was the co-feature. In the main event, Brighton welterweight Harlem Eubank, the cousin of Chris Eubank Jr, improved to 21-0 (9 KOs) with a dominant performance over Conlan’s Belfast homie Tyrone McKenna. Eubank was credited with three knockdowns, all the result of body punches, before referee John Latham had seen enough and pulled the plug at the 2:09 mark of round 10. It was the fourth loss in his last six outings for the 35-year-old McKenna (24-6-1).
Harlem Eubank wants to fight Conor Benn next and says he is willing to wait until after his cousin “wipes Benn out.” Chris Eubank Jr vs Benn is slated for April 26 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The North London facility, which has a retractable roof, is the third-largest soccer stadium in England.
Toronto
Local fan favorite Lucas Bahdi and his stablemate Sara Bailey were the headliners on last night’s card at the Great Canadian Casino Resort in Toronto. The event marked the first incursion of Jake Paul’s MVP Promotions into Canada.
Bahdi, who is from Niagara Falls but trains in Toronto, burst out of obscurity in July of last year in Tampa, Florida, with a spectacular one-punch knockout of heavily-hyped Ashton “H2O” Sylva. His next fight, on the undercard of Jake Paul’s match with Mike Tyson, was less “noisy” and the same could be said of his homecoming fight with Ryan James Racaza, an undefeated (15-0) but obscure southpaw from the Philippines who was making his North American debut.
Bahdi vs Racaza was a technical fight that didn’t warm up until Bahdi produced a knockdown in round seven with a sweeping left hook, a glancing blow that appeared to land behind Racaza’s ear. The Filipino was up in a jiff, looking at the referee as if to say, “this dude just hit me with a rabbit punch.”
The judges had it 99-90, 97-92, and 96-93 for the victorious Bahdi (19-0) who was the subject of a recent profile on these pages.
Sara Bailey, a decorated amateur who competed around the world under her maiden name Sara Haghighat Joo and now holds the WBA light flyweight title, successfully defended that trinket with a lopsided decision over Cristina Navarro (6-3), a 35-year-old Spaniard who “earned” this assignment by winning a 6-round decision over an opponent with a 1-4-3 record. The judges scored the monotonous fight 99-91 across the board for Bailey who improved to 6-0 and then returned to the ring to assist her husband in Lucas Bahdi’s corner.
Also
Twenty-two-year-old super bantamweight Angel Barrientes, a Las Vegas-based Hawaii native, delivered the best performance of the night with a one-sided beatdown of Alexander Castellano whose corner mercifully stopped the contest after the seventh round as the ring doctor stood in a neutral corner chatting with the referee.
The gritty Castellano, who hails from Tonawanda, New York, brought an 11-1-2 record and hadn’t previously been stopped. A glutton for punishment, he appeared to suffer a broken orbital bone. Barrientes improved to 13-1 (8 KOs).
The show was marred by an excessive amount of fluffy gobbledygook by the TV talking heads which slowed down the action and made the promotion almost unwatchable.
Cartago, Costa Rica
Fighting in his hometown, super flyweight David Jimenez scored a lopsided 12-round decision over Nicaragua’s Keyvin Lara. The judges had it 120-108, 119-109, and 116-112.
Jimenez, now 17-1, came to the fore in July of 2022 when he upset Ricardo Sandoval in Los Angeles, winning a well-earned majority decision over a 20/1 favorite riding a 16-fight winning streak. That boosted him into a title fight with the formidable Artem Dalakian who saddled him with his lone defeat.
Jimenez’s victory over Lara was his fifth since that setback. It sets up the Costa Rican for another title fight, this time against Argentina’s Fernando Martinez who acquired the WBA 115-pound title in July with an upset of Kazuto Ioka in Japan. Lara, who unsuccessfully challenged Ioka for a belt in 2016, falls to 32-7-1.
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