By Charles Brun: Newly crowned IBF featherweight champion Luis Alberto Lopez says he won’t give former champ Josh Warrington a rematch after defeating him by a foul-plagued 12 round majority decision on December 10th at the First Direct Arena in Leeds, England.
Lopez (27-2, 15 KOs) is angry at the “dirty” way that the Leeds native Warrington (31-2-1, 8 KOs) fought, with his repeated accidental head-butting, throwing rabbit punches, and punching to the leg without being penalized by the referee Bob Williams.
After the fight, Lopez revealed that he had an argument with Warrington’s promoter Eddie Hearn, who shockingly felt that he should have been penalized for excessive clinching.
Lopez felt that was pretty rich of Hearn, given all the fouling that Warrington had done in the fight for him to bellyache about Josh not being given a point.
Lopez won the fight by the scores 115-113, 115-113, and 114-114. Hearn said that Warrington could have been given the win by a 115-113 score.
“No, I never would. He is a very dirty fighter. He doesn’t deserve to be in pro boxing,” said Luis Alberto Lopez to Izquierdazo about not giving Josh Warrington a rematch.
“There is not a rematch clause,” Lopez said. “It’s an honor to show the British that Mexico rules in boxing.”
Hearn said that his next move is to match Warrington against the winner of Leigh Wood vs. Mauricio Lara. Those two are expected to battle at the City Ground in Nottingham, England.
“I watched it again, and I was angry,” said Luis Lopez about his fight with Warrington. “I saw Warrington punching me in the legs, and in his corner, he said he would keep doing that.”
Lara already knocked out Warrington last year and was severely cut in the rematch in a fight that many boxing fans believe Josh intentionally fouled to keep from being knocked out for a second time by the powerful Mexican fighter.
“I had an argument with Eddie Hearn, and he was telling me that I should have been deducted a point because I was clinching too much,” said Lopez.
With his deep pockets, Hearn can easily entice Lopez to take the rematch with Warrington if he threw enough wads of cash at him, but it’s doubtful he’ll do that because the chances are Josh will lose again.
Hearn should hope that Wood gets lucky against Lara, so he can then match Warrington against him.
If the younger, stronger, and more talented Lara beats Wood, it would be a waste of time for Hearn to match the powerful Mexican fighter against Warrington in a trilogy.
Lara is too strong for Warrington, and he’d make the Leeds native look bad if he repeatedly rams heads with him, as we saw in their second fight.