By Mark Eisner: Former unified lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez (19-1, 13 KOs) dethroned WBO light welterweight champion Josh Taylor (19-1, 13 KOs) by an impressive twelve round unanimous decision on Saturday night at the Hula Theater at Madison Square Gardein New York. It was a pure domination for Teofimo!

The scores were 115-113, 115-113, and 117-111.

Taylor fell apart after the third round; Teofimo used his superior hand speed and accuracy to take advantage of the older, slower former undisputed 140-lb champion.

Undercard results

Junior middleweight Xander Zayas (16-0, 10 KOs) defeated Ronald Cruz (18-3-1, 12 KOs) by an eight-round unanimous decision. The judges were 80-71, 80-71, and 80-71. Cruz was down in round one.
Lightweight contender Robson Conceição (17-2, 8 KOs) and Nicolas Polanco (20-4-1, 11 KOs) fought to a disappointing second round no contest. Polanco couldn’t continue after suffering an injury from a clash of heads in round two. He went down after the accident head clash and rolled around on the canvas and had to be helped up by the referee and brought back to his corner.
Undefeated light welterweight prospect Omar Rosario (11-0, 3 KOs) beat Jan Carlos Rivera (8-2, 6 KOs) by a narrow eight round unanimous decision. The judges’ scores were 77-75, 77-75, and 77-75.
Undefeated heavyweight prospect Damian Knyba (12-0, 7 KOs) had his way with grizzled veteran Helaman Olguin (9-6-1, 4 KOs), beating him by a one-sided eight round unanimous decision to stay unbeaten. The judges scored it 79-73, 79-73, and 79-73.
Featherweight prospect Bruce Carrington (8-0, 5 KOs) got the stoppage of Luis Porozo (16-7, 9 KOs) in the eighth round. The referee decided he’d seen enough and stepped in and halted the contest. The time of the stoppage was at 2:17.
Lightweight contender Henry Lebron (18-0, 10 KOs) beat Carlos Ramos (17-3, 10 KOs) by a 10-round unanimous decision. Ramos was knocked down twice in the fight, hitting the deck in the 8th and 10th. The scores were 97-91, 98-90, and 98-90.

Preview: Josh Taylor and Teofimo Lopez meet up tonight in the main event LIVE on ESPN and ESPN+ at the Hula Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York. IBF light welterweight champion Taylor (19-0, 13 KOs) wants to punish Teofimo (18-1, 13 KOs) for some of the outrageous things he’s said about him. The event starts at 10:00 p.m. ET.

In the chief support bout, junior middleweight Xander Zayas (15-0, 10 KO) will be facing Ronald Cruz (18-2-1, 12 KO) in a 10 round fight. Lightweight Jamaine Ortiz has been scratched from the card due him having weight issues.

“It depends on his performance. In other words, let’s assume that he loses the fight, but his performance is outstanding. He’s not in with chop liver, right? He’s in with a real great professional, one of the best junior welterweights ever,” said Bob Arum to Fighthype, discussing Teofimo Lopez’s challenge of WBO light welterweight champion Josh Taylor.

“So if he [Teofimo] loses, but performs well, no, you don’t write him off. If he goes in there and doesn’t perform well, then you have a lot of questions.

“He had Derek Harmon. I sent him down to Florida to make sure everything was going well, and his reports back to me were very excited he was a top light heavyweight. So he can judge. He thought Teofimo was great in the gym, sparring with good guys and really serious and working hard.

“Well, they got Triller involved, and then they were ‘wise guys’ with the purse bid and all of that stuff, and they went off the track. Once these fighters become businessmen rather than sticking to what they know best, which is fighting, the tendency is for them to go off the track, and I think that’s what happened to Teofimo in his loss to Kambosos.

“He didn’t look so great in his last fight against Sandor Martin, but let’s see. I believe he’s going to be on track. He better be because Josh Taylor is a hell of a fighter.

“I can’t affect, and I wouldn’t affect the outcome. So whoever wins is not in my hands. Whoever wins will take and will enhance his career, and we’ll make the best fight possible for him.

“So I don’t look, ‘Oh Jesus, I hope this guy wins, or that guy wins, because this might be better, that might be better.’ That’s out of my hands, and I don’t hope either way.

“Well, what’s he waiting for? Of course, it’s not too late. Everything marches on, and people remember his outstanding win over Lomachenko, but they also remember him getting beat by Kambosos. So you know, he’s got to get the best possible fight available, and without question, that’s Taylor.

“No more monkeying around. The fans lose patience. They want to see these fighters fight the best available guys, and there’s no question about it for Teofimo, the best available guy is Josh Taylor,” said Arum.