Teofimo Lopez Dethrones Vasiliy Lomachenko

Lopez the new undisputed lightweight champion

*The New Lightweight King: Teofimo Lopez Topples Vasiliy Lomachenko*

*Barboza Decisions Saucedo in the Co-Feature*

*LAS VEGAS (October 17, 2020)* — There is a new undisputed lightweight
king. Teofimo Lopez toppled Vasiliy Lomachenko by unanimous decision in a
superstar-making performance Saturday evening from the MGM Grand Conference
Center, and in doing so, he became the youngest undisputed champion (23) in
the four-belt era.

Lopez (16-0, 12 KOs) won by wide margins (119-109, 118-110 and 116-112),
fulfilling the prophecy by his father/trainer, Teofimo Lopez Sr., who
predicted long ago that his son would be undisputed champion by his 16th
professional fight.

Lomachenko (14-2, 10 KOs), a three-weight world champion, saw his 13-bout
winning streak come to an end.

Said Lopez, “I had to dig deep, man. I’m thankful. I’m grateful. And each
and every day, I take that in. I thank God first because I couldn’t do it
without him.

“I’m a fighter. I gotta dig in deep. I knew he was coming. I didn’t know if
they had him up on the scorecards or not, and I love to fight. I can bang,
too. I don’t care, man. I’ll take one to give one. That’s what a true
champion does. I find a way to win.

“You just gotta keep pressuring him, press the gas, stick the jab and don’t
really give him that opportunity to set up. Every time he did want to
throw, I had something ready for him.”

*Barboza Decisons Saucedo*

In a battle of junior welterweight contenders, the unbeaten Arnold Barboza
Jr. (25-0, 10 KOs) notched the most significant win of his career,
surviving a knockdown to defeat former world title challenger Alex “El
Cholo” Saucedo (30-2, 19 KOs) via 10-round unanimous decision. Barboza,
ranked in the top 10 by two of the major sanctioning bodies, now has his
sights on a world title shot.

Barboza said, “This was like a championship fight to me. It’s all because
of my father {head trainer Arnold Barboza Sr.}, not me. I did this for kids
and my father. My dream is to get a house for my kids. I came that much
closer today.

“I want a championship fight. No more messing around. No more tune-up
fights.”

*KO King Berlanga Does it Again*

He did it again. Super middleweight destroyer Edgar “The Chosen One”
Berlanga knocked out Lanell Bellows in 79 seconds, the 15th first-round
knockout to begin his career. Bellows (20-6-3, 13 KOs) had never been
knocked out in an eight-year pro career. After the knockout, Berlanga
climbed to a neutral corner and proclaimed to the Bubble audience, “I’m a
fuc*ing monster!”

Berlanga said, “I saw with the first shot that I cut him open and the look
in his eyes, he didn’t want to be in there. From the beginning, once I got
in the ring, I looked in his eyes… he didn’t want to be in there. So I had
to get him out.”

*In undercard bouts: Jr. Welterweight: **Josue Vargas (18-1, 9 KOs) UD 10
Kendo Castaneda (17-3, 8 KOs). Scores: 100-89, 99-91, 98-90.* Vargas
graduated to contender status with a one-sided domination over Castaneda,
who was coming off a competitive decision loss to Jose “Chon” Zepeda. He
has won 12 straight fights since a disqualification defeat.

Vargas said, “He was a tough customer, tougher than I thought he was going
to be, but my father told me to stay composed, stay calm. I dropped him,
but that doesn’t mean nothing, just stay relaxed because that’s how I got
disqualified when I was 18 years old.

“I’m very close to fighting these guys, like Zepeda, Pedraza, any of these
guys. You name it, I’ll get in there with them.”

*Featherweight: **Jose Enrique Vivas (20-1, 11 KOs) TKO 1 John Vincent
Moralde (23-4, 13 KOs), 1:16. *Vivas blitzed Moralde, knocking down the
Filipino contender twice en route to the early stoppage. The second
knockdown was a body blow that prompted referee Celestino Ruiz to halt the
fight without a count.

*Welterweight: **Quinton Randall (7-0, 2 KOs) UD 6 Jan Carlos Rivera (4-1,
4 KOs).* Scores: 58-56 2X and 59-55. In a battle of unbeatens, Randall
swept the last four rounds on two of the judges’ scorecards to prevail.

*Welterweight: **Jahi Tucker (2-0, 1 KO) UD 4 Charles Garner (1-1). Scores:
40-36, 3X. *The 17-year-old Tucker, who scored a first-round knockout in
his professional debut last month, went the distance and cruised to a
decision win against Garner, a native of Buffalo, N.Y.