Featherweight IBF champion Luis Lopez faced strong competition from Joet Gonzalez on Saturday, September 15th but managed to come out on top with a well-deserved unanimous decision at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas (USA). The scorecards painted a wider margin than was actually reflected, with scores of 116-112, 117-111, and 118-110, suggesting a more dominant match in favor of Lopez.
Mexican featherweight champion Luis Alberto Lopez (29-2, 16 KO’s) was involved in his third world title fight and his second title defense on the night. American contender Joet Gonzalez (26-4, 15 KO’s) participated in his first title fight and did not seem too hampered by the occasion as he pressured Lopez early on.
However, Lopez seemed to have closely studied Gonzalez’s approach and concluded that fighting “fire-with-fire” was the best solution. Though Gonzalez is known as a pressure fighter, it was Lopez who adopted a more hybrid style that ventured between pressuring, boxing, and counterattacking, all while stepping up his activity compared to his previous fight.
Lopez won more rounds as a result, managing to stave off Gonzalez’s pressure by either pressuring the American in turn or countering effectively. Despite Gonzalez being quite active, his defense showed vital leaks that allowed Lopez to land more clean punches than necessary. There were also points in the match where Lopez proved to be the stronger fighter, and even with the punches from Gonzalez that buckled the Mexican champion, Luis Lopez seemed to hit harder.
After twelve rounds in total, Luis Lopez’s arm was held up as he was announced the winner by unanimous decision, allowing him to retain his IBF featherweight title for the second time in his career.
The fight card also featured a number of prospects or well-developed talents who represented Top Rank, the organizer, and promoter of the boxing event.
Super lightweight contender Jamaine Ortiz (17-1-1, 8 KO’s) returned to the ring once more following his UD loss to Vasyl Lomachenko (17-3, 11 KO’s) on October 29th, 2022. The American fought Antonio Moran (29-6-1, 20 KO’s), a mid-tier Mexican contender at 140 lbs.
Ortiz’s victory was hard-won and tough, and there did obviously appear to be a bit of ring rust after not having fought for roughly ten to eleven months, but overall he put up a solid performance against an opponent that came in to win.
Also on the undercard, Puerto Rican super welterweight prospect Xander Zayas (17-0, 11 KO’s) fought Mexican fighter Roberto Valenzuela Jr. (21-5, 20 KO’s), a known hard-hitter who posed a threat to Zayas with his power.
Zayas, however, produced perhaps one of the best performances of the night by defeating Valenzuela by stoppage in the fifth round, proving his budding potential and vast improvement that might soon make him a genuine contender at 154 lbs.
American featherweight fighter Ruben Villa (21-1, 7 KO’s) also notched a solid unanimous decision win over Colombian contender Brandon Valdes (15-4, 7 KO’s), and there were plenty of indicators during the match that showed him to be a potential next opponent for Luis Lopez.
