By Dave Lahr: WBO featherweight champion Juan Manuel Lopez (29-0, 26 KO’s) destroyed Bernabe Concepcion (28-4-1, 15 KO’s) in a 2nd round knockout just moments ago on Saturday night at the Coliseo Jose Miguel Agrelot, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. I hate to gloat but I predicted this outcome. Concepcion, 22, was knocked down three times in the fight and looked like a bird at times the way that he was flying around the ring from the big shots that Lopez was hammering him with. Conception just didn’t have what it takes to match up with the talented, bigger and much stronger Lopez.

It was basically a slaughter, and I’m being kind. Concepcion had no clue how to fight Lopez. Instead of trying to box him and stay away from his power shots, Concepcion went right at him trying to slug. As you can see, things didn’t work out well for Concepcion. Lopez staggered Concepcion in the opening seconds of the 1st round with a nice left hand that sent Concepcion flying backwards across the ring until he hit the ropes. The referee should have ruled this a knockdown because the ropes clearly kept Concepcion from falling down.

With Concepcion aiming his shots for the midsection of Lopez, he was open for a left hand that put Concepcion down. Concepcion got up but he was hurt and took steady punishment, backing up the ropes where he really got hammered by Lopez with one big shot after another. Incredibly, Concepcion landed a left hand through all the shots that Lopez was firing and was able to knock Lopez down. It was a flash knockdown, because Lopez got up looking mostly embarrassed. The round ended right there, otherwise Lopez probably would have continued beating Concepcion like an old rug.

In the 2nd round, Lopez proved that his knockdown in the previous round was a fluke thing, as he immediately dropped Concepcion with a hard left hand to the head. Concepcion got up and was knocked down again with another left hand, but for some reason the referee ruled it a slip, even though it looked like a clear knockdown to me. At this point, Concepcion looked hurt, disorganized and out of it. He was basically just stumbling around the ring without any plan and taking a lot of heavy shots from Lopez.

Concepcion fired off some shots every now and then, but he was mostly just getting lit up by Lopez. It looked like Lopez was measuring Concepcion for just the right shot, as he followed him around and teed off on him with some nice punches but the not the big. Finally, Lopez let loose with a hard right hand followed by a left that sent Concepcion flying across the ring, landing in the corner in a heap. Concepcion picked himself off the canvas but staggered as he was getting up.

Referee Luis Pabon then stopped the slaughter at 2:37 of the 2nd round. All I can is Conception has a lot of work to do if he’s ever to be a champion. Manny Pacquiao thinks Concepcion can be a great champion some day. I’m not so sure about that from what I’ve seen of Concepcion in his fights against Steven Luevano and now Lopez. Concepcion looks like a good gatekeeper fighter to me.