By Mike Smith: Unbeaten lightweight knockout artist Teofimo Lopez (12-0, 10 KOs) took his time and gave his over-matched opponent former world title challenger Diego Magadaleno (31-3, 13 KOs) a methodical beat down in stopping him in the 7th round on Saturday night in an impressive performance from the 21-year-old Top Rank star on ESPN+ at The Ford Center at The Star, in Frisco, Texas.
Lopez, 21, hurt Magdaleno with a hard right hand to the head in the seventh round. Lopez then teed off on Magdaleno util flattening him with a big right hand that knocked him out. Lopez then celebrated, which might not have been the right thing to do at the time given how hurt his opponent 32-year-old Magdaleno was at the time. Moments after the fight ended, Lopez did a back flip. Looked impressive.
Magadaleno was knocked down in the 6th round from a scorching left to the head from Lopez at the end of the round. You can argue that Magdaleno’s corner should have pulled out of the fight at the sixth, as he was hurt and it was painfully obvious that Lopez was going to poleaxe him in the 7th if they let him come out for the round, which unfortunately is exactly what happened. Magdaleno tried his best to fend off Lopez’s attack in the 7th, but he was getting drilled with heavy shots. You got to like Magdaleno’s courage, because didn’t back down for a second. He wanted Lopez to come forward and attack, but that bravery proved costly for Diego. He was overwhelmed by the power and sheer volume of heavy shots that Lopez was hitting him with.
Lopez looked like he wasn’t in a hurry to get Magdaleno out of there tonight. Lopez didn’t do much in round 1. He was fighting like he was in 1st gear through most of the rounds, and not pushing it. Lopez was obviously loading up on his shots, but he wasn’t going after Magdaleno the way that he had in most of his fights since he turned pro in 2016. Lopez fought like he was trying to get rounds in and show off in front of the boxing fans at ringside and at home.
In round 2, Lope was teeing off, and gave Magdaleno a beating in this round. Magdaleno was cut on his nose. It was very one-sided. Magdaleno was fighting back, but getting shellacked by Lopez in this round.
Lopez was on cruise control in the third round, hitting Magdaleno with good shots that he took well. Magdaleno landing some nice punches as well. This round was kind of close, but only because Lopez was fighting like he was no hurry to get him out of there. Lopez was boxing, and giving the crowd a look at his skill set. He’s not just a puncher. The guy was showing some excellent skills.
In the 4th round, Lopez was looking to counter Magdaleno by letting him be first with his shots. It appeared that Lopez was trying to set Magdaleno up with a hook that would knock him senseless. Magdaleno was hit a lot by Lopez in the round, but he showed a good chin.
In the 5th, Lopez was hitting Magdaleno with massive shots that was wearing him down slowly. Magdaleno was still able to take the shots, but he was getting weary and you could see the fight wasn’t going to go too much longer.
It was a very good performance by Lopez, who did an excellent job of defeating a seasoned pro. You can argue that Terry Flanagan did a better job of stopping Magdaleno than Lopez did in his 2nd round knockout victory over him in 2015, but that was a different type of a fight. Lopez wasn’t trying to go all out to score a quick stoppage over Magdaleno the way that Flanagan was. It would be interesting to see how Lopez would do against the other champions at lightweight like Vasyl Lomachenko. Top Rank will obviously put the two of them in with each other at some point in the future, but not likely soon. They’re going to let Lopez mature more and get some experience under his belt before they eventually put him with Lomachenko in the future. It would be in Lomachenko’s best interest for that fight with Lopez to happen sooner rather than later. The last thing that Lopez needs to do is fighting Lopez when he’s hitting his prime in his mid-20s. If Loma is in his mid-30s by the time he faces Lopez, it’s probably not going to end well for him. Lopez hits too hard. It doesn’t matter that Lomachenko is the more skilled technician. Getting hit by a guy with the kind of power that Lopez possesses is going to do damage to Lomachenko. We saw how Jorge Linares was able to put Lomachenko down, and he’s nowhere near the same kind of puncher that Lopez is.