Making his 5th defense of his World Boxing Organization super bantamweight title, unbeaten champion Juan Manuel Lopez (27-0, 24 KO’s) defeated his number #15 ranked WBO challenger Rogers Mtagwa (26-13-2, 18 KO’s) by a 12 round unanimous decision.

The final judges’ scores were 116-111, 115-111 and 114-113. Lopez, 26, survived a close call, however, when he was hurt by series right hands from Mtagwa late in the 11th. Lopez continued to take nonstop punishment in the 12th round and looked to be on the verge of being stopped at one point in the round.

However, Lopez was somehow able to clinch his way out of the round without going down. Had there been another three rounds in the fight, Lopez almost surely would have been stopped. Lopez looked defeated and tired starting in the 10th round when he started to take punishment and look tired.

In the earlier part of the fight, Lopez fought superbly, landing shots and avoiding the bull-like attacks from Mtagwa. Lopez looked exceptional during the first half of the fight, fighting smoothly as if he were using no energy in throwing his shots. However, Mtagwa, 30, was putting a great deal of constant pressure on Lopez, forcing him to fight harder than he usually does. Lopez had recently stopped his last two opponents in the 9th and 10th rounds respectively, but those were against opponents that put much less pressure on Lopez compared to the pressure that Mtagwa was putting on Lopez on Saturday night.

Mtagwa was knocked down in the 5th round by a cuffing right hand. The referee appeared to blow the call the big time. In the grand scheme of things, it didn’t matter because Lopez would have won the fight anyway.

Lopez fought well in the first three rounds, landing straight lefts and right hooks as Mtagwa would come rushing forward. However, Lopez’s punches seemed to have zero effect on Mtagwa. In the past, Lopez had annihilated many of his opponents in one to three rounds with his right hooks and left hands.

But this was clearly going to be a fight where Lopez was going to have to earn his money because Mtagwa wasn’t going to go anywhere. After the 5th round knock down, Mtagwa seemed to become more determined to get in the fight and was able to land some solid right hands in the next round. Lopez still won the round but suddenly he began to get hit hard by Mtagwa.

This was a new experience for Lopez, because he had dominated the first five rounds without any trouble whatsoever. Now he was forced to take shots and he looked uncomfortable taking the shots. In the 7th round, Mtagwa appeared to hurt Lopez late in the round when he hit Lopez with three consecutive looping right hands to the head that snapped his head back.

Lopez controlled the first part of the round but then suddenly got tagged by Mtagwa late when he got sloppy. In the 9th round, Lopez started to look exhausted and was shelled by Mtagwa with big right hands. Lopez got the better of the action in the round, but his punches continued to have no effect on Mtagwa, whereas Mtagwa’s shots were snapping Lopez’s head back on impact.

In the 10th, Lopez had major problems with Mtagwa’s power shots. He tried to move around the ring to avoid him, but Mtagwa cut off the ring well and landed some massive shots. Lopez landed more punches, but Mtagwa’s shots were much more powerful and had more of an impact when they would land. In the 11th, Lopez was badly hurt late in the fight after getting hit with three big shots right before the round ended.

Lopez was clearly hurt as he went back to his corner. In the 12th round, Lopez hadn’t recovered from the shots he took in the 11th and staggered around the ring for the entire 12th, taking one big shot after another.

A lot of referees would have stopped the fight because Lopez was badly hurt an unable to defend himself. All he could do is clinch, and move a little. Somehow, Lopez made it through the round without going down but he took an enormous amount of punishment in the round. Lopez sustained a cut under his left eye during the round.

Rather than fight someone else, like Celestino Caballlero, Lopez needs to consider giving Mtagwa a rematch. Lopez didn’t prove that he’s much better than him and I think this would be a great fight to see again rather than watching Lopez beat up on another over-matched contender in the round. Caballero would likely knock Lopez out if they were to fight.