The much awaited return defence of the WBA Super world welterweight title clash between Keith Thurman and Josesito Lopez finally came off early today at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn as expected.
After nearly 2 years of inactivity by Keith Thurman due to an elbow injuries sustained after the Danny Garcia fight, many ruled him out for a possible comeback.
But Thurman returned to the ring looking confident. Thurman 30, (29-0, 22KO) who got married in his long inactivity looked sharp and quick on the jabs with a combination of left hook, right hook and right upper cut in the first round. He landed a big left hook on the chin of Josesito Lopez and dropped him in the second round.
Lopez 34 (36-8, 22KO) came after Thurman after that knockdown with aggression, throwing much heavier and power punches which missed most times. Thurman landed decent cracking combinations of punches to the head of Lopez.
“I definitely thought I held my own in that fight,” Lopez said. “I had him hurt in the seventh round, and I was landing a lot of clean shots on him. I was disappointed I couldn’t finish him and get him out of there.” Josesito Lopez said in his post fight interview.
“He had me buzzed and shaken up in the seventh round, but I tried to stay on the outside and away, I was a little off in my prediction of how long his arms were. He lunged in and was really willing to commit to the knockout.”
“He came right for me, I said you wouldn’t see the best Keith Thurman tonight, but you’d still see a world-class performance, and I gave you that tonight.” The self styled ‘One time’ reiterated.
The current WBA welterweight champion called out Manny Pacquiao in his post fight interview.
“I would most likely definitely take the Manny Pacquiao fight this year, I feel good. That was a beautiful fight. I’m ready to fight wherever Pacquiao wants it.” He stated bullishly.
Jokes over Thurman’s inactivity was finally halted with a majority decision against the stubborn American Josesito Lopez after his WBC strap got stripped for inactivity.