Fast Results from the Big Apple: Kambosos Upsets Teofimo Lopez in a Scorcher

Teofimo Lopez and George Kambosos finally settled their differences tonight. The bout, postponed over and over again, materialized in the Theater at Madison Square Garden where Lopez and Kambosos engaged in a bloody brawl before a sell-out crowd. And when the smoke cleared, Kambosos was deemed the winner by split decision, saddling Lopez with his first defeat while shearing away Lopez’s various lightweight title belts.

During the long lead-in to this fight, the animosity between Teofimo and Kambosos became more intense. In the opening round, Lopez came out of his corner throwing haymakers, but late in the round Kambosos put him on the deck with an overhand right, momentarily hushing the crowd.

Kambosos was able to counter Lopez effectively and landed more punches during the first nine rounds, but in the tenth, he was felled with a chopping right hand and for a moment it seemed as if Lopez, a big favorite, would take the fight out of the hands of the judges. But Kambosos had good powers of recuperation and was able to turn the fight back in his favor in the next round during which a big gash over Lopez’s left eye led referee Harvey Dock to call “time” so that the ring physician could get a closer look at it. He let the match continue and the final round had the fans on their feet.

Judges Frank Lombardi (115-111) and Glen Feldman (115-112) scored the fight for Kambosos. Don Trella was the apostate, giving the nod to Teofimo by a 114-113 tally. It was the third straight win by split decision for the Sydney, Australia, resident who nipped Mickey Bey and Lee Selby prior to landing this match.

The decision should have been unanimous. Kambosos improved to 20-0 (10).

Other Title Fight

Japan’s Kenichi Ogawa scored three knockdowns en route to winning the vacant IBF 130-pound title with a unanimous decision over South Africa’s Azinga Fuzile. This was the second title that Kenichi won the title. In his only previous appearance on American soil, Ogawa won a split decision over Tevin Farmer, but the result was changed to a “no-contest” when he tested positive for a banned substance.

The first knockdown came in round five in what had been a fairly even fight to that point. Kenichi nailed Fuzile with a big right hand and the South African barely made it out of the round. Ogawa let him off the hook and Fuzile got his legs back in the next round, but a cut over his right eye in round nine diminished his chances of pulling the fight out of the fire. He subsequently suffered another cut, this over his left eye, the result of a clash of heads in round 10.

Two knockdowns in Round 12 sealed the win for Kenichi. Both were the result of right hands. The second came late in the round and caused Ogawa to take a knee. The scores were 144-111 and 115-110 twice. Kenichi cried tears of jubilation in the ring after the scores were announced.

Other Bouts of Note

Camden, New Jersey featherweight Raymond Ford, a U.S. National Golden Gloves champion in 2018, improved to 10-0-1 (6) with an eighth-round stoppage of Puerto Rico’s Felix Caraballo (13-4-2).

Caraballo had some good moments early and landed the hardest punch of the fight in round three, but Ford, a 22-year-old southpaw, gradually wore Caraballo down with his speed and his higher workrate and Caraballo’s left eye was swelling shut when the referee decided that he had seen enough. It was the third straight loss for Caraballo, but he’s been matched tough – dates with Shakur Stevenson and Robeisy Ramirez preceding tonight’s assignment. The official time was 2:10 of round eight.

Six-foot-six Chinese southpaw Zhilei “Big Bang” Zhang, a two-time Olympian, advanced to 23-0-1 (18) with a second-round blowout of Detroit’s paunchy Craig Lewis (14-5-1). Zhang knocked him down hard with a hard left in the second round. Lewis made it to his feet, but was clearly dazed. Another left produced a second knockdown and the referee waived it off in sync with Lewis’s corner. The official time was 2:10 of round two.

This was the best win of Zhang’s career and sort of made-up for his showing in his last fight against Jerry Forrest, a strange affair in which Zhang scored knockdowns in each of the first three rounds, but had to settle for a draw after barely making it to the final bell because of dehydration that shut down his kidneys and forced a three-day hospital stay.

It was the fourth straight loss for Lewis whose pro career went nowhere after winning a U.S. National Golden Gloves title back in 2008. However, the Detroiter had never previously been stopped and was thought to possess a granite chin.

Zhang has long campaigned for a match with Anthony Joshua but, at age 38, he is running out of time.

Photo credit: Ed Mulholland / Matchroom

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