F--- boxing

I gave Lopez the first six rounds, seven and eight to Loma, nine to Lopez (with a question mark, it was close), 10 and 11 to Loma, 12th was all Lopez. All the bullshit the ESPN guys were spouting about Loma gathering intel during the early rounds overshadowed the fact he was doing nothing. Lopez' strategy of boxing instead of slugging reminded me of Hearns in his first fight with Leonard when he boxed his way to an early lead and made Sugar Ray into the slugger. Lopex was bigger, stronger, faster and savvier than anyone gave him credit for. If there is a rematch, and it's hard to see how there wouldn't be, Loma needs a much better strategy or he gets knocked out.

 

Historically, though, this is true. Lomachenko spends the first three or four rounds in ranging and data acquisition, then sets about dismantling the other fighter. The Rigondeaux fight is a great example.

But I think the 14-month layoff really hurt him. Loma went to put his foot on the gas and nothing happened. He couldn't get the motor to catch.

So not only was Lopez a puzzle for which he had no solution - a much faster, better boxer than he'd schemed for - Loma couldn't get Loma going.

By then, too late.

 

i think the rematch will be much different.

Lopez may have won more rounds, but Loma was more impressive in the rounds that he won than the rounds Lopez won. IMO, at least.

 

There won't be a rematch anytime soon. Lomachenko didn't have a rematch clause and Lopez doesn't like him so he's probably not going to contribute to another payday.

 

I don't know that the scorecard was as bad as it seemed. When boxers do nothing for the first half of a fight -- Loma connected on about 25 punches total in the first six rounds -- they tend to be rewarded for simply picking up the pace in the later rounds. Did Loma win rounds 8-thru-11? I thought he did on first view, but he was just a likely to be rewarded for his uptick in output. Lopez didn't stop throwing in those rounds and he connected on some good shots.

Julie Lederman has always been pretty solid with her scoring so I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.

 

To me, it was a lot like the first fight between Bernard Hopkins and Jermaine Taylor. I lot of people thought in the early rounds when he wasn't doing much, Hopkins was just trying to play the long game and set things up for later in the fight. That's something Lomachenko also does. It's all well and good, but unless you're confident you can stop the other guy in the later rounds, you have to start fighting a heck of a lot earlier than the eighth round.

 

Until last night, Lomachenko was 396 - 1.

Gonna say he felt confident in his approach.

 

Agree with this, and agree that Julie is one of the good ones.

But what I thought I saw in the rounds I gave Lomachenko was Loma dictating pace and pattern, and Lopez responding. Not just an uptick in activity. Loma never had Lopez in trouble, but he was more responsible in those rounds for determining the conditions under which the fight proceeded.

I look forward to watching it again this week.

 

Actually it was like both of the Hopkins-Taylor fights. I covered the first one and I think I scored it 115-114 Taylor winning the first six, a 10-10 seventh round and Hopkins winning the last five. I thought he was going to knock Taylor in the 10th, but he survived. Anyway I remember writing a column on the fight and getting a bunch of responses about Hopkins doing all this eye candy and magic in the first six rounds and I'm thinking...."nope, you have to throw a fucking punch to win a round". I get his strategy, but sitting on your ass for six rounds is six rounds lost. Yes he looked more dominant in the five rounds he won than the six he lost, but the math is what it is.

So in the rematch Hopkins did the exact same thing and lost 115-113. Against a guy he was clearly so much better than.

 

I wouldn't give him a rematch. Nope. He genuinely beat the guy, nobody who watched would deny Lopez that, and it wasn't by a fluke knockout, but on Loma's tactical terms. There is nothing additional to prove, nor was it some kind of war that everybody's begging to see again.

 

thats BS.

 

Yep. You miss 100 percent of the punches you don't throw.