Top lightweight Teofimo Lopez scored an explosive 44-second knockout over Mason Menard this past Saturday night at The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in a scheduled ten-round bout viewed by a massive audience on ESPN.
Lopez landed a crushing right hand that had Menard plummeting face-first onto the canvas in the opening televised bout on the Vasilly Lomachenko – Jose Pedraza lightweight unification card.
Lopez is now the NABA, NABF, and USBA Lightweight champion.
The knockout was featured on ESPN SportCenter, and all over social media took place on an event that was the 2nd highest rated boxing card on cable television this year.
TEOFIMO LOPEZ TAKEOVER
With the win, Lopez pushed his perfect mark to 11-0 with nine knockouts, and now he feels he is ready for anybody in the lightweight division.
“I knew he was a tough fighter.I knew he could fight,” Lopez said.”I wanted to test him, and I took a chance early in the fight.
“But I know he trained hard, and he didn’t want it to go that way. This is ‘The Takeover.’ ‘The Takeover’ has begun.
“In 2019, I will be a world champion. That’s a guarantee,” he added.
“I put an exclamation point that I am no longer a prospect, and now it’s on to the contenders and moving up the rankings. In 2019 you will see me fight for a world title.”
Said Lopez manager David McWater of Split T Management, “He just never stops surprising me.
“When you think he can’t do better than his last fight, he does something even more amazing. It’s been a generation since boxing saw a young fighter like this.”
Lopez is already tipped to be a future world champion and a star in the 135-pound ranks.
