By Manuel Perez: Undefeated featherweight prospect Alejandro Lopez (11-0, 2 KOs) defeated Yogli Herrera (22-9, 15 KOs) by an eight-round decision on Saturday night at the Playboy Mansion, in Beverly Hills, California. Lopez, 21, fought extremely well, throwing fast combinations to the head and body while showing good defensive skills in avoiding the big power shots from Herrera.
Neither fighter were hurt or knocked down in the fight, although there was a close call at the end of the 7th when Herrera nailed Lopez with a right hand rabbit punch that dropped Lopez to the canvas as the bell was sounding ending the round. However, it was a blatant rabbit punch and the referee didn’t count it.
Lopez controlled the action in the first two rounds, jabbing and opening up with periodic bursts of punches to the body and head. Herrera, 26, showed good power as he stalked Lopez around the ring and landed big shots whenever he could see an opening.
However, Lopez was the one that did most of the landing, especially when he would open up with short bursts of punches to the body. The second round was close, but Lopez edged it when he caught Herrera in the corner twice in the round and fired on him with hard body shots.
The 3rd round was close until the final seconds of the round when Lopez suddenly opened up with an impressive eight-punch flurry with time running out in the round. Before that, Herrera had looked to be in the position to win the round due to his hard shots and pressure he had put on Lopez.
Lopez began moving a lot in the 4th, trying to keep from being cornered by the hard punching Herrera. There were no flurries from Lopez in the round, but he was still able to land some nice combinations to win the round.
In rounds five and six, Lopez moved a great deal around the ring, landing jabs and clinching Herrera. It looked as if Lopez was starting to be bothered by Herrera’s power and didn’t want to take chances by standing and trading with him like he did in the prior rounds. Herrera still wasn’t able to land enough to cause any real problems for Lopez.
In rounds seven and eight, Lopez stuck to throwing two punch combinations and using lateral movement. Herrera followed him around, lunging to throw big shots but mostly coming up short in his attempts to connect.
The final judges’ scores were 79-73, 79-73 and 79-73, all for Lopez.