Teofimo Lopez Upsets Josh Taylor at Madison Square Garden

In the highest-grossing fight card ever staged in the small room at Madison Square Garden, Teofimo Lopez become a two-division world title-holder with a 12-round unanimous decision over defending WBO junior welterweight champion Josh Taylor. The match between “The Takeover” and the “Tartan Tornado” was a rare encounter between two former undisputed champions. Taylor previously held all four 140-pound belts, but shed three preceding this encounter.

Lopez, who had something of a home field advantage having spent most of his formative years in Brooklyn, was making his ninth appearance under the MSG roof. It was the first appearance at this storied venue for Taylor whose robe and trunks paid homage to the late, great Edinburgh lightweight Ken Buchanan who fought here when it was called the Felt Forum and fought several times in the main room including a memorable encounter with Roberto Duran.

Taylor entered the ring an 11/5 favorite and did well in the early rounds. But Teofimo gradually assumed control, dictating the pace and landing the cleaner punches. He won seven rounds on two of the scorecards and nine rounds on the other. It was the first pro loss for the Scotsman who was 19-0 heading in. He had been out of the ring for 18 months after winning a controversial decision over Jack Catterall, during which time he suffered a foot injury, and he never could establish a rhythm. Lopez (19-1) has many options going forward, including potential megafights with Tank Davis and Devin Haney.

Co-Feature

Twenty-year-old junior middleweight phenom Xavier Zayas pitched an 8-round shutout over Ronald Cruz. Representing Puerto Rico on the eve of New York’s annual Puerto Rican Day Parade, Zayas (16-0, 10 KOs) set the tone early when he knocked Cruz down with an overhand right in the opening frame. But SoCal’s Cruz (18-3-1) was a glutton for punishment and stayed the course. In the seventh round alone, Zayas was credited with landing 33 power punches, yet Cruz was still standing at the final bell.

Other Bouts of Note

A 10-round bout between 34-year-old junior lightweights Robson Conceicao (17-2, 8 KOs) and Nicolas Polanco (20-1-1, 11 KOs) ended in a no-contest after only two rounds. Late in the frame, Conceicao discombobulated Polanco with an accidental head butt to the jaw. Polanco went down in a heap and had trouble regaining his feet. He was assisted to his stool where he complained of dizziness while ring officials were deciding what to do next and one could see his left cheekbone swelling as he sat there amidst the confusion. The fight was not resumed and went into the books as a no-contest.

In a monotonous heavyweight affair, Damian Knyba improved to 11-0 (7 KOs) with a one-sided decision over paunchy, 39-year-old Heleman Olguin (9-6-1). A six-foot-seven, 260-pound Pole, Knyba won seven of the eight rounds on all three cards, but had no snap on his punches, the mark of a heavyweight with a low ceiling. In his spare time, Olguin is an uber driver in the Salt Lake City area.

In a featherweight contest, Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington, a Brooklynite who has been living and training in Las Vegas under his former amateur coach Kay Koroma, improved to 8-0 (3 KOs) with an eighth-round stoppage of Ecuador’s Luis Porozo (16-7). Porozo wasn’t badly hurt when the referee called a halt at the 2:17 mark of the eighth and final round, but he had eaten a lot of leather and was way behind on the scorecards.

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank via Getty Images

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