By Mark Eisner: Luis Alberto Lopez (27-2, 15 KOs) put on a masterclass performance, defeating IBF featherweight champion Josh Warrington (31-2-1, 8 KOs) by a 12 round majority decision on Saturday night at the First Direct Arena in Leeds, England.

The scores were 115-113, 115-113 for Lopez, and 114-114 even. Boxing News 24 scored it 9-3 in favor of Lopez.

Warrington got away with a lot of fouling with head-butting, countless rabbit punches, and shouldering.

Lopez was cut over his left eye from a headbutt in round two, and injured by a punch to the buttocks in the ninth. Warrington was running amok with the fouling in the last three rounds, landing rabbit punches at will and getting away with it.

Undercard results

- IBF female bantamweight champion Ebanie Bridges (9-1, 4 KOs) stopped a game Shannon O’Connell (23-7-1, 11 KOs) in the eighth round. Referee Howard Foster stepped in and halted the fight in the eighth round after the 36-year-old Bridges flurried on the tired & bruised O’Connell against the ropes. In the seventh, Foster appeared close to halting the fight after Bridges nailed the 39-year-old O’Connell with a storm of headshots after trapping her in the corner. Earlier in the fight, Bridges dropped O’Connell with a hard right to the head. In the sixth, Bridges was warned by Foster about roughing up O’Connell. This was by far the best fight of the card of this point.

Super middleweight contender Felix Cash (16-0, 10 KOs) had a tougher time than expected in defeating Celso Neves (9-3-2, 2 KOs) by an eight round points decision. The score was 77-75. Cash suffered a cut on his forehead from a clash of heads in the 100th round. Cash, 29, went all out in the first rounds, trying to score a fast knockout, but the better-conditioned Neves weathered the storm. Cash looked fatigued in rounds two & three, taking big shots, but still outworking Neves. From the fourth round on, Cash boxed more, conserving his energy to go the distance. After the fight, Cash and Austin ‘Ammo’ Williams exchanged words. It seemed like Cash was ready to swing on Williams (13-0, 9 KOs) until the American took off. “I’ve been out of the ring for over a year. It was a bit of ring rust off,” said Cash after the fight. “I’m ready to flatten my next opponent. I’ll knock you spark out,” said Cash to Ammo Williams. Overall, Cash looked decent for a fighter that had been out of the ring for ten months. With that said, he’s going to need to fight a lot better than that for him to defeat the younger, equally powerful 26-year-old Williams because he’ll give him problems. There are better fighters at 168 than Williams, so Cash must pass this test to share the ring with upper-level guys like David Benavidez, Caleb Plant, and David Morrell.

Preview: Much of the suspense about the headliner fight is about whether Josh Warrington will cut Lopez to ribbons with his bad habit of crashing into his opponents with his head.

Warrington’s last two opponents, Kiko Martinez and Mauricio Lara were cut badly by his accidental headbutts.

Some boxing fans believe Warrington uses his head as a weapon to either end fights prematurely in the case of his rematch with Lara, or wound his opponents to gain an edge, as in his last fight against Kiko.

“It’s a great card and a great night of action. We can’t wait,” said Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn to Seconds Out about tonight’s Warrington vs. Lopez event.

“Because of the name of Kiko Martinez, that fight is better than the Luis Alberto Lopez fight, but anyone in boxing, if you speak to the American fans, hardcore fight fans, Top Rank, who represent him, this is a much tougher fight than [the 37-year-old] Kiko Martinez, with all due respect to our Spanish friend.

“This is an elite featherweight in Luis Alberto Lopez. I feel for Josh because if he beats him, he might not get the credit. This is a brilliant match-up.

“It’s a very tough fight. We just go to come through it. Hopefully, we can deliver the Leigh Wood unification [for Warrington] or a big fight in America [against WBA featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz].

“Hopefully, he gets past the final hurdle and is victorious,” said Hearn about Warrington. “We love Michael Conlan and would love to work with him again, but Conlan is not in the mix for Josh Warrington. Josh Warrington is big fights in the States or unification fights. Hopefully both.

“He’s paid his due, Josh Warrington. He deserves that now. The head-to-heads were good. This is a great fight, a great rivalry. It’s going to be a war. Both fighters come forward. They don’t take a step backwards,” said Hearn.

(31-1-1, 8 KOs) defends his IBF featherweight strap tonight against the fiery, motivated mandatory Luis Alberto Lopez (26-2, 15 KO) on DAZN at the First Direct Arena in Leeds, England. The main portion of the Warrington – Lopez card will begin at 4:00 p.m. ET, live on DAZN.