Teofimo Lopez Takes Apart William Silva In 6 Rounds
Flashy and powerful, 20-year old Teofimo Lopez wins the vacant WBC Continental Americas Lightweight title in a commanding six-round performance
By the looks of Teofimo Lopez’s demeanor over six rounds of action at New Orleans’ Lakefront Arena, the young upstart fought as if he had true disdain for his opponent William Silva’s experience and size advantage.
After the two men circled the center of the ring for the first two minutes of the opening round, Lopez dazed Silva with a big left hook upstairs before lunging in with a second left hook that dropped the 31-year old Brazil native.
Silva exited his corner at the bell for the second round with blood streaming from his nose. The veteran connected with a couple of 1-2 combinations to work his way back into the fight, but Lopez continued to land punishing shots at will.
In round three Silva connected with a flush right hand as he finally made Lopez pay for carrying his left hand below his waist. In the final minute Lopez exploded forward for a punishing series of hooks as he tracked Silva across the ring into a corner. He continued to take Silva apart to close out the ring.
Lopez continued to break down and punish Silva into the fifth round where after a series of powerful body shots Lopez briefly switched to southpaw before returning to his orthodox stance to flat-out toy with the veteran fighter. Moments later he bullied Silva into a corner to land a left hook around the guard that sent Silva to the ground in a corner. The bell soon sounded and Silva made his way to his corner.
When the action ensued in round six, things further worsened for Silva as a Lopez flurry had the taller fighter on his back, as the referee hopped around Silva’s head and disregarded a 10-count to wave off the fight at the 15-second mark. Lopez sealed his 10th win with the stunning performance, and got ready to receive his first title.
The boxing world can’t wait until he gets his next assignment.
All photos by Mikey Williams/Top Rank
