Budding star Teofimo Lopez (12-0, 10 KO’s) stole the show on the Sergey Kovalev-Eleider Alvarez II undercard on Saturday in Texas but cast doubt over a Vasyl Lomachenko clash.
The Honduran-American’s sensational beat-down of former world-title challenger Diego Magdaleno (31-3, 13 KO’s) ended in the seventh stanza with two spiteful left hooks.
Referee Gregorio Alvarez could and should have stopped the mismatch in the previous round as the undefeated Olympian landed heavy combinations on the veteran at will.
The New Yorker, however, took the shine off his own emphatic performance by celebrating distastefully while his beaten opponent laid crumpled on the canvas.
“I take nothing away from Diego Magdaleno. We picked our shots, and we knew that in the later rounds, he’d drown in those deep waters,” Lopez said. “As the competition gets tougher, you will see more of what I can do. I dissected him like a surgeon.”
Social media reacted to the 21-year-old’s vicious victory by calling for a clash with southpaw slickster Vasyl Lomanchenko, who also campaigns under Top Rank’s promotional banner. But the 21-year-old was quick to play down the match-up, he told FightHype:
“This year is my last year at 135lbs, so if Lomachenko is going down to 130lbs I’m not going to wait for him; I am not going to wait for no man; I am not an opponent; I am a champion. Don’t treat me like an opponent, like I’m his lunch food.”