Judges become talking point, following Nakatani's bout with Lopez
Just moments ago we saw Japan's Masayoshi Nakatani (18-1, 12) [中谷正義] suffer his first professional defeat, though defy all the pre-fight predictions and give the self assured Teofimo Lopez (14-0, 11) and incredible close and competitive 12 round fight. A fight the judges simply, did not watch.
The pre-fight view was that this was an horrific mismatch, with Lopez expected to blow away Nakatani in the early rounds. Nakatani on the other hand had travelled over as someone completely unknown outside of Asia, and wasn't seen as someone who had much of a chance against the fear rising star of the US.
Despite the expectations it was Nakatani who got off to a great start, showing now respect to Lopez's reputation as a feared and dangerous fighter. Instead Nakatani fought to his strengths, using his reach, his jab and his height to pepper Lopez at range, landing jabs to head and body and right hands over the top. It made Lopez, the, man who was once calling out Vasyl Lomachenko, look like a rookie.
After the first round Lopez began to settle, and find pockets of success, but all too often they were only pockets and moments as he looked to fight at a pot shotter against a man who was able to neutralise him with size and a jab.
As the fight went on the cleaner, harder, punchers seemed to mostly come from Lopez, especially in round 4, but Nakatani was the consistent fighter, out landing Lopez, and making the Honduran-American look wild and sloppy, whilst also showing that Lopez's much vaunted power wasn't going to cut it at this level. Even when Lopez landed clean Nakatani barely reacted, firing off his own shots in return.
In the later rounds both fighters began to show signs of tiredness. For Lopez it was the first time he had gone into the 8th round, and by then Nakatani was starting to push him back more often and press the action more himself. The Japanese fighter was getting caught by some counters, but was landing more than his share of shots, and seemed to rock a tiring Lopez at one point, though stood tough and fired back in a fun little back and forth exchange.
Sadly by the time we got into the 12th round both men seemed tired and the round was a bit of a mess of nothingness, despite the fight being pretty close through 11 rounds and the final one being, potentially, a very important one.
After the bell there was a feeling this was close, infact it had been close, with neither man dominating. Nakatani had certainly done a lot better than expected, but had also run Lopez hard. He had landed right hands regularly, neutralised Lopez and had clearly taken rounds from "El Brooklyn". Lopez however had the promoter behind him, he was the money man, the potential star, and the judges knew it. A close fight was always going to go his way.
Amazingly however not one judge saw a close fight, scoring it 119-109, 118-110, twice, giving Lopez the wide win, in a bout that really wasn't clear cut. A win for Lopez isn't a bad decision, by any means, but those scores, all of them, are simply wretched.
After the fight Lopez spoke about not liking the height and turning off, but the reality is that he had over-looked Nakatani and been given a scare. The score cards may not have reflected that scare, but it was a big scare for Lopez.
Next for Lopez will be IBF champion Richard Commey, and in a way it feels, maybe, like the judges didn't want to do anything to scupper that bout, as they certainly weren't paying attention to this one.
The pre-fight view was that this was an horrific mismatch, with Lopez expected to blow away Nakatani in the early rounds. Nakatani on the other hand had travelled over as someone completely unknown outside of Asia, and wasn't seen as someone who had much of a chance against the fear rising star of the US.
Despite the expectations it was Nakatani who got off to a great start, showing now respect to Lopez's reputation as a feared and dangerous fighter. Instead Nakatani fought to his strengths, using his reach, his jab and his height to pepper Lopez at range, landing jabs to head and body and right hands over the top. It made Lopez, the, man who was once calling out Vasyl Lomachenko, look like a rookie.
After the first round Lopez began to settle, and find pockets of success, but all too often they were only pockets and moments as he looked to fight at a pot shotter against a man who was able to neutralise him with size and a jab.
As the fight went on the cleaner, harder, punchers seemed to mostly come from Lopez, especially in round 4, but Nakatani was the consistent fighter, out landing Lopez, and making the Honduran-American look wild and sloppy, whilst also showing that Lopez's much vaunted power wasn't going to cut it at this level. Even when Lopez landed clean Nakatani barely reacted, firing off his own shots in return.
In the later rounds both fighters began to show signs of tiredness. For Lopez it was the first time he had gone into the 8th round, and by then Nakatani was starting to push him back more often and press the action more himself. The Japanese fighter was getting caught by some counters, but was landing more than his share of shots, and seemed to rock a tiring Lopez at one point, though stood tough and fired back in a fun little back and forth exchange.
Sadly by the time we got into the 12th round both men seemed tired and the round was a bit of a mess of nothingness, despite the fight being pretty close through 11 rounds and the final one being, potentially, a very important one.
After the bell there was a feeling this was close, infact it had been close, with neither man dominating. Nakatani had certainly done a lot better than expected, but had also run Lopez hard. He had landed right hands regularly, neutralised Lopez and had clearly taken rounds from "El Brooklyn". Lopez however had the promoter behind him, he was the money man, the potential star, and the judges knew it. A close fight was always going to go his way.
Amazingly however not one judge saw a close fight, scoring it 119-109, 118-110, twice, giving Lopez the wide win, in a bout that really wasn't clear cut. A win for Lopez isn't a bad decision, by any means, but those scores, all of them, are simply wretched.
After the fight Lopez spoke about not liking the height and turning off, but the reality is that he had over-looked Nakatani and been given a scare. The score cards may not have reflected that scare, but it was a big scare for Lopez.
Next for Lopez will be IBF champion Richard Commey, and in a way it feels, maybe, like the judges didn't want to do anything to scupper that bout, as they certainly weren't paying attention to this one.