Trainer Teofimo Lopez Sr. claims his son, Teofimo Jr. (20-1, 13 KOs), “won every round” in defense of his WBO light welterweight title against Jamaine Ortiz (17-2-1, 8 KOs) last Thursday night in Las Vegas.
Lopez Sr. insists that it wasn’t a close fight, even though fans saw it as a victory for Jamaine, and that he feels that even the 117-111 score turned in by one of the judges in favor of Teo wasn’t lopsided enough.
It’s hard to imagine how Lopez Sr. couldn’t see the problems his son Teofimo was having last night: getting outboxed and outpunched, losing every single exchange, and being made to look unskilled and pedestrian.
The judges’ bailout of Teofimo, saving him from another loss, is more of an indication of how difficult it is for less popular fighters to defeat a star. Unfortunately, that’s how it is in boxing today, and it hurts the sport.
You get champions like Teofimo and Tyson Fury, where they still win no matter how badly they’re dominated.
Tim Bradley says he had Jamaine Ortiz winning a clear decision, and Terence Crawford, Shakur Stevenson, and many other notable fighters agree.
Teofimo should have lost that fight, and this is another hit on his career to go along with his controversial win over Sandor Martin and his loss to fringe lightweight contender George Kambosos Jr.
“It was one of those fights where you can’t give the public what they want because you don’t have a good partner to show your skills,” said trainer Teofimo Lopez Sr. to Fight Hub TV, complaining about Teo not having a slower, less talented stationary fighter like he usually fights, who he can hit.
“Teo won every round. No, it wasn’t a close fight. It’s called ‘positive aggression.’ We were touching him, hitting him to the body. Those were the only shots we could hit him with because it’s hard to hit somebody in the face when they’re running like that.
“Cutting the corners, we did that, but this guy wasn’t even boxing backward. He was just running, so it’s even harder to cut the corners. We’ll get ready for this because that’s what everybody is going to do now. Just run backward,” said Teofimo Sr.
