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An underdog for the second time in his career, Teofimo Lopez did exactly what he’d done the first time around: score an impressive win over an established top fighter. Lopez dominated Josh Taylor to capture the WBO junior welterweight championship on Saturday night in New York City.
Taylor, the much bigger man in the ring, simply struggled round after round to deal with Lopez’s awkward angles and head movement. As Taylor chased Lopez and stood flat-footed in front of the challenger, Lopez would uncoil with big right hands, leaping left hooks and powerful uppercuts.
Lopez had not looked good in recent outings, including barely edging out a split decision win over Sandor Martin in his most recent fight. After the Martin fight, Lopez was caught on camera asking his team, “Do I still got it?”
Lopez had also seemed increasingly unhinged in recent interviews, claiming his own promoters favored “Black fighters” and stating a desire to literally kill Taylor in the ring.
All of that proved not to matter as Lopez, the former unified lightweight champion, showed all the skills that had made him one of the men pegged as the future of boxing when he defeated Vasiliy Lomachenko in 2020 to win three world championships at lightweight.
As Lopez clearly gained control of the fight, he began to dance and pose in front of Taylor, who was undisputed champion at 140 pounds before being stripped of three of his world titles for failing to make mandatory title defenses.
By the end of the fight, Lopez held a 158-82 advantage in punches landed, showing just how dominant he had been throughout the fight.
Despite Lopez’s clear dominance, the scorecards were a bit of a scare for the new champion, reading 115-113, 115-113, 117-111.
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“It’s been a long time coming. We just beat the No. 1 ranked guy, the No. 1 champion, former undisputed champion,” Lopez said before making the claim he was now undisputed despite only holding one belt. “Two time undisputed world champion, Teofimo Lopez.”
Despite a brief dust-up when Taylor’s corner refused to give Lopez the Ring Magazine championship belt, Lopez also took a moment to apologize to Taylor for his stated desire to kill him in the ring as well as address the candid moment at the end of the Martin fight.
“I do want to say one thing, I let my emotions get the best of me. I did not want to take your life, I want you to go back to your family. I apologize. …  I questioned myself for a good reason. I’m my own worst critic. But I just have to ask you one question: Do I still got it?”
Taylor gave no excuses after the fight, admitting he was bested in losing for the first time in his career and asking for a rematch while admitting Lopez now held all the power.
“Listen, no excuses,” Taylor said. “It wasn’t my best. The better man won tonight. Fought to the best of my ability. I felt amazing in the gym. He was the best tonight. Congratulations to Teofimo. I’d love to do it again, but he’s the champ and the ball is in his court.”
CBS Sports was with you throughout the entire way on Saturday with the live results and highlights below. 
Josh Taylor vs. Teofimo Lopez — Round 12: Taylor again walked forward but again just did nothing when he got inside. Lopez landed a good right hand and Taylor’s legs buckled. Taylor did land a left hand but then got cracked with another right. Lopez landed a great combo, closing to the body and again hurt Taylor. Lopoez again went hard to the body and landed an uppercut, just pouring it on Taylor down the stretch. Massive right hands from Lopez again late and Taylor holds on to get to the final bell. No doubt who won this fight. Unofficial scorecard: 10-9 Lopez (118-110)
Josh Taylor vs. Teofimo Lopez — Round 11: Taylor continued to walk to Lopez and stand flat and hesitate to throw shots. Taylor did get in with a few left hands but Lopez was still countering and avoiding most incoming fire. Taylor whiffed on some wild left hooks. A big right hand landed for Lopez as Taylor stepped in and then Lopez landed a right to the body. Lopez landed another big left hand and another right uppercut before some big body work. Lopez is just dominating now. Unofficial scorecard: 10-9 Lopez (108-101)
Josh Taylor vs. Teofimo Lopez — Round 10: Lopez’s angles and speed continued to befuddle Taylor, who has chased and chased without doing much of anything as far as throwing punches. Taylor missed with some hard shots as Lopez used great head movement to just evade and move and pick his spots. Taylor badly needs a knockout here. Unofficial scorecard: 10-9 Lopez (98-92)
Josh Taylor vs. Teofimo Lopez — Round 9: Taylor chased Lopez but didn’t really let his hands go early while Lopez landed an uppercut and then a left hand. Lopez landed another big shot and started to hurt Taylor a bit while looking for big uppercuts. Taylor landed a right hand but isn’t following up with much of anything after. Again, Lopez landed a hard right hand counter and another right hand that bounced Taylor off the ropes. Unofficial scorecard: 10-9 Lopez (88-83)
Josh Taylor vs. Teofimo Lopez — Round 8: Taylor opened with a good left hand. Lopez landed a few right hands, continuing to find a home for his power hand. Taylor landed a good left hand counter. Lopez started to dance a bit, taunting Taylor. Taylor landed a right hand and then backed off before Lopez scored a lunging left hand before posing. Lopez has completely taken over the fight and Taylor looks lost. Unofficial scorecard: 10-9 Lopez (78-74)
Josh Taylor vs. Teofimo Lopez — Round 7: Taylor had a nice burst early, landing some left hands on the inside. Lopez landed another good right hand. Lopez picked off some Taylor shots and landed a right hand that backed Taylor up. Taylor tried to push forward and make something happen on the inside after some slow rounds from an offensive output. Lopez closed with a good right hand. He’s fighting an outstanding fight. Unofficial scorecard: 10-9 Lopez (68-65)
Josh Taylor vs. Teofimo Lopez — Round 6: Taylor landed a good left hand early and then a right hand in a messy exchange after. Lopez landed a good jab. Taylor landed a left hand after forcing Lopez into the corner. Taylor again connected with a jab and Lopez fired back a jab and straight in return. Lopez landed a low blow, leading to a brief break in the action. Both men landed power shots but Lopez’s left may have landed better. Lopez tried to fire forward in the final seconds of another tight round. Unofficial scorecard: 10-9 Lopez (58-56)
Josh Taylor vs. Teofimo Lopez — Round 5: Taylor came forward with several hard shots, including some big left hands and Lopez turned his back and somehow the ref allowed that to be a break in the action. As things resumed, Lopez landed a hard uppercut. Lopez went to the body and Taylor cracked him with a right hand to the head and then a hard left to the chin. Lopez landed a good right hand. Lopez threw a good late flurry. Close round. Unofficial scorecard: 10-9 Lopez (48-47)
Josh Taylor vs. Teofimo Lopez — Round 4: Lopez landed to the body and followed up with a left to the head before Taylor landed his on left and then a big sweeping left that landed clean. Right hand landed for Taylor and Lopez shoved him to the canvas. Both men landed lead power shots Lopez got in with a right hand and then had his head snapped back by a hard jab. They exchange big shots down the stretch. Lopez put together a nice second half of that round. Unofficial scorecard: 10-9 Lopez (38-38)
Josh Taylor vs. Teofimo Lopez — Round 3: Taylor pushed forward and landed a good series of shots and Lopez fell backward into the ropes, sitting on the second rope and Taylor threw a shot as the referee tried to stop the action. Referee delivered a stern warning to Taylor for that. Lopez slipped go the canvas moments later after missing an uppercut. Taylor landed a good straight left and another left to the body. Taylor snapped Lopez’s head back with a jab but Lopez landed a good right hand counter. Another Taylor jab landed well. Taylor backed Lopez into the ropes and landed another left hand. Lopez cracked back with his own uppercut. Unofficial scorecard: 10-9 Taylor (29-28)
Josh Taylor vs. Teofimo Lopez — Round 2: Lopez landed a little jab early and then missed with a wild right hand. Lopez landed a good counter left as Taylor stepped forward. Lopez landed a good right hand that buzzed Taylor a bit. Taylor dipped down with a good body shot and Taylor pushed to the ropes and landed a good little flurry with both hands. Taylor landed a good left hand and a right late in the round. A better round for Lopez there. Unofficial scorecard: 10-9 Lopez (19-19)
Josh Taylor vs. Teofimo Lopez — Round 1: Lopez came out with his usual wide stance while Taylor tried to use his length and pop the jab. Lopez stepped in with a left and right around Taylor’s guard. Taylor landed his own short hook moments later. Lopez landed a few quick punches as Taylor stepped forward and landed a good flurry against the ropes. Another big left landed for Taylor as he started to get the better of exchanges. Lopez landed a right hand once they were back to distance in the middle of the ring. Taylor ripped a good left to the body and then one to the head. Taylor’s big combo may have been enough to edge that. Unofficial scorecard: 10-9 Taylor
Here we go! Ring walks? Done. Fighter introductions? Over. It’s time for Josh Taylor vs. Teofimo Lopez.
The fighters are now making their walks to the ring. This massive fight is drawing near.
We are moments away from Josh Taylor defending his WBO super lightweight title against Teofimo Lopez. This is a very intriguing clash of both skills and personality. Fighters are expected to make the walk to the ring in just over 15 minutes.

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