Teofimo Lopez VS. Masayoshi Nakatani
Teofimo Lopez VS. Masayoshi Nakatani
Teofimo Lopez VS. Masayoshi Nakatani
Teofimo Lopez, 14-0 11KOs, stretched his unbeaten run to 14 and set himself up to fight for the world title by beating Masayoshi Nakatani, 18-1 12KOs, in a world title eliminator for Richard Commeys IBF world title. The judges scorecards read 118-110 twice and 119-109.
Lopez was in control for the vast majority of the fight, but he did have trouble adjusting to the height advantage of Nakatani, who stands at 6 foot, tall for the weight class, but by the fourth Lopez had made adjustments and figured it out and landed a heavy right hand that sent Nakatani to the floor, but the referee mistakenly ruled it a slip, from that point on Lopez cruised to a comfortable but unexciting victory.
The Lightweight division is deep with talent at the moment and could potentially lead to some of boxing's biggest and most lucrative fights in the not too distant future. The name Teofimo Lopez could be one of the names that is in the mix. Some huge match-ups against the likes of Vasiliy Lomanchenko await just down the line if he can take the title from current IBF world champion Richard Commey.