By Scott Gilfoid: Luis Alberto Lopez (27-2, 15 KOs) overcame an early cut from a headbutt to defeat IBF featherweight champion Josh Warrington (31-2-1, 8 KOs) by a 12 round majority decision in a grueling contest on Saturday night at the First Direct Arena in Leeds, England.
Lopez got the better of the hometown fighter Warrington in the first nine rounds but then had to survive after the Leeds native roughed him up nonstop in the last three rounds with an assortment of headbutts and rabbit punches.
One particularly vicious foul from Warrington came in the ninth round when he nailed Lopez with a punch to the backside. On replay, Warrington landed a right-hand shot square on Lopez’s backside. Thankfully, Lopez was able to walk it off without the contest needing to be halted.
In the 11th, Warrington rammed Lopez with his head, hurting him and causing the Leeds fans and the DAZN commentators to go mad, thinking he’d been hurt from a punch. It wasn’t a punch, it was another one of Warrington’s headbutts, and it was shocking that the commentators failed to spot it.
The scores were:
- 114-114
- 115-113 – Lopez
- 115-113 – Lopez
This writer had it 10-2 for Lopez. Warrington should have been docked points for all the headbutts and rabbit punches in the contest because it was way out of hand and so obvious. Warrington was fouling like no tomorrow and getting away with it without the referee stepping in to control him.
In the second round, Warrington rammed heads with Lopez, cutting him badly over the left eye. Lopez’s corner did a great job of controlling the bleeding in the subsequent rounds to keep the contest from being halted.
The referee opted not to take a point away from Warrington for the headbutt, which was surprising. It looked like Warrington had lowered his head in a Billy Goat stance and charged Lopez at full speed.
The wild unorthodox style of Lopez gave Warrington fits from rounds 3 to 8. Starting in the ninth, Warrington began fouling continuously, throwing a lot of rabbit punches, shouldering, holding & hitting, and crashing into Lopez headfirst.
The fouling looked blatant as if Warrington was using these tactics out of desperation, knowing that he was far behind in the fight and needed to rough his more talented opponent.
After the fight, Warrington, the commentators, and promoter Eddie Hearn seemed to be in denial about the loss. Hearn even talked of wanting to go with the original plans of having Warrington face Leigh Wood next or go to the U.S.
After this loss, it would look silly for Warrington to be given a title shot against Wood or WBA champion Leo Santa Cruz. Warrington should work his way to a title shot like normal fighters. It would send the wrong message if Warrington were given an undeserving title shot, as if he actually won the fight tonight.
