Teofimo Lopez has been eliminated from Ring Magazine’s pound-for-pound top ten, leaving some to believe this is the fallout from his performance, or lack thereof, against Jamaine Ortiz last Thursday night. Teofimo has been replaced on the list by Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez.
Lopez (20-1, 13 KOs), the WBO light welterweight champion, was given a much-criticized 12-round unanimous decision by the Nevada judges for his title defense against Ortiz (17-2-1, 8 KOs) at the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas.
Unfortunately for Teofimo, his promoters at Top Rank, and the three judges who gave him the victory, people still talk about it, believing that Jamaine deserved the win because he outboxed Teo, making him look like a rank amateur for twelve rounds.
The Fall from Grace
The performance from Teofimo was yet another terrible one, the third in his last five fights, making it clear that there’s something wrong. Of course, it’s possible that people gave him too much credit for his career-best win over an injured Vasily Lomachenko.
Updated Ring Magazine’s pound-for-pound top ten, with Teofimo having been eliminated.
1. Terence Crawford
2. Naoya Inoue
3. Oleksandr Usyk
4. Canelo Alvarez
5. Artur Beterbiev
6. Dmitry Bivol
7. Devin Haney
8. Errol Spence
9. Gervonta Davis
10. Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez
Experts Critique Lopez
“Even if I gave two close rounds to Lopez, I still had it 7-5, but Ortiz completely outboxed this man, and he should be the victory,” said boxing expert Tim Bradley to ProBox TV, talking about seeing Jamaine Ortiz as the winner over Teofimo Lopez last Thursday night.
“I didn’t give Ortiz any chance. I thought Lopez would knock him out, but he boxed a great game plan. He took Lopez out of his element, and he [should have] won that fight.”
“I don’t think you could give Lopez more than six rounds. The only one with a game plan in the fight was Jamaine Ortiz,” said Paulie Malignaggi. “He came in with a game plan and he executed the game plan. It wasn’t very exciting, but it was a game plan.
“Lopez was coming forward against Ortiz, crossing his feet, not cutting off the ring, hands down. Even when he was throwing a punch, he was only able to throw one at a time because his hands were all over the place.
“There was no fundamental adjustments there, no instructions from the corner, not ability to adjust or even a thought to adjust,’ said Malignaggi about Teofimo.
