By Nate Anderson: Previously unbeaten super bantamweight contender Mike Oliver (21-1, 7 KOs) was shockingly stopped in the 3rd round by Colombian Reynaldo Lopez (29-5-2, 20 KOs) on Wednesday night at The Roxy, in Boston, Massachusetts. Oliver, 28, ranked # 2 in the IBF super bantamweight division, was cruising along in the third round having won the first two rounds when he attempted to throw a right hand from too far away and was subsequently nailed with a big right hand from Lopez, 34, knocking Oliver down flat on the canvas.
Referee Dick Flaherty then almost immediately stopped the fight at 1:22 of the third round with Oliver flat on his face on the canvas. It was a huge upset because Lopez, a fighter not even ranked in the top 10, was thought not to be nearly in the same class as Oliver in terms of boxing skills. The loss wipes out basically any chance for Oliver to land a bout with IBF super bantamweight champion Steve Molitor, who Oliver had been seeking to land a fight with for some time.
Perhaps a harbinger for things to come, a round earlier, in the 2nd, Lopez had nailed Oliver with a monstrous right hand at the start of the round. Oliver, looking slightly hurt, backed up to the round and smothered Lopez’s attempts to follow up with any more bombs in the round. However, it should have given Oliver an indication that Lopez was someone he needed to be very careful with because he was, despite his advanced age of 34, still possessed world class power and was capable of scoring a one-punch knockout like he eventually did. While Lopez’s record may have had a high number of losses, he’d lost only lost to top level fighters in the last six years, losing to champions Dmitri Kirilov, Cristian Mijares and Daniel Ponce de Leon.
Of them, Lopez had fought very competitively with each of them, save for De Leon who had blown him out in five rounds. In the case of Oliver, with his lack of power, it meant that he wasn’t simply going to be able to count on blowing Lopez out like De Leon did. Another factor going against Oliver on Wednesday night was that he in facing Lopez, he was dealing with a southpaw, a style that Oliver had rarely faced in his career up to this point. Though he’s a southpaw himself, he’s been accustomed to fighting right handed fighters during his career, so this was going to be a difficult test because of the punches coming from a different angle than what he’s used to. It’s one thing sparing against southpaw fighters, and quite another to face a southpaw with good skills and extraordinary power like Lopez, who was clearly out to try and take Oliver’s head off from round one.
Oliver boxed well in the first round, using his jab and sharp combinations to easily win the round. Lopez, too, seemed more focused on boxing in the first round, as he seemed to be trying to get a feel for Oliver. It was immediately clear that Lopez didn’t have the speed to match up with Oliver, and he would have to hope to land something big to stop him or else facing losing by a lopsided decision like so many other opponents of Oliver. The round finished Oliver landing good right hands to the head of Lopez, who for his part seemed to be holding back with his power.
At the start of the second round, Oliver, perhaps feeling it safe to come in close to land some shots, came within punching distance of Lopez, who promptly fired off a big right hand to the head of Oliver. The punch didn’t seem to visibly hurt Oliver, as he didn’t stagger, but he quickly backed off like a scalded dog and retreated to the ropes. Lopez came after him but was foiled in any further attempts to land any shots with Oliver both staying too close for Lopez to land and big shots and holding him to keep him from landing more. Oliver would later come back in the round and dominate the final minute of action with right hand shots. It wasn’t hard to control the fight with Lopez, because aside from his huge power, he didn’t have the boxing skills or speed that Oliver had, meaning that Lopez lived and died by his power shots.
At the start of the third round, Oliver appeared to anger Lopez after hitting him in the back of the head with a left hand. Oliver immediately responded with a left hand, then angrily roughing Oliver up and throwing him to the canvas. Once he got up, and the action resumed, Lopez fired off a combinations of hard shots. Oliver then attempted to land a right hand from a little too far away, leaving him open for a big left hook thrown by Lopez that connected with a crash to the side of Oliver’s head, sending him to the canvas face first. After hitting the canvas, Oliver showed no signs of getting up and was counted out by referee Dick Flaherty at 1:22 of the 3rd round.