New York fans boo beaten Teofimo Lopez over 'delusional' claim he won fight against George Kambosos

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Ed Chisholm
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• 5 min read
Teofimo Lopez

Teofimo Lopez has been ridiculed by boxing fans - even some of his own - over a stunning declaration that he won his fight over new lightweight world champion George Kambosos.

The defending champion, Lopez was the short-priced favourite to take down Kambosos, even claiming before the fight that he would win with a first-round knockout.

But Kambosos stunned his opponent and the world with one of the gutsiest fights from an Australian seen on the world stage to claim a split decision victory (115-111, 115-113, 113-114).

The Sydneysider exerted his dominance early, knocking down Lopez late in the first round with a right overhead punch that connected before going on to dominate the middle rounds.

It was clear by the ninth round that Kambosos had the upper hand and had Lopez rattled, although the mouthy American did land a few blows late in the contest that made for an intriguing final round.

In the end though, judges and fans alike were convinced Kambosos was the worthy winner, with Lopez left with a gaping cut above his right eye and clearly worse for wear.

Before a decision had been made Kambosos was seen in Lopez's camera congratulating his opponent on a great fight and paying his respect to Lopez and his team.

After the judges scores were read out confirming Kambosos' undeniable victory, the Australian let the crowd know.

“Have I changed all week? Have I changed all career? Never… I’m not the king, because you’ve got four kings. I’m the emperor!” Kambosos declared, braced with the lightweight belt.

"I’m the greatest Australian fighter in history."

But soon after, a bloodied and beaten Lopez took to the microphone standing opposite Kambosos to say he was the champion, much to the disliking of his local crowd.

“He’s a hell of a fighter, but I won tonight, everybody knows that,” Lopez said to a backdrop of heavy booing from the local crowd.

“The referee raised my hand. I won tonight, I don't care what anybody says yo, I won tonight. At the end of the day, I’ve been here, I done that, I want to thank God, I want to thank everybody that came out tonight, look, I ain’t no sore loser, I take my wins like I take my losses.

“At the end of the day man I’m a true champion, I did what I had to do, and I went out there and did my best. I don’t care what anybody says man, I am as real as they come, and this is the takeover man, we don’t stop, we keep coming.

“Yo, at the end of the day man, I love you all, I won this fight.”

George Kambosos

Lopez was asked on what grounds he felt he deserved to win, to which the New York native said: “At the end of the night, I scored it 11-2. 10-2.”

Kambosos reclaimed the microphone to say Lopez was "delusional".

“Take it like a champ. Let’s do it again in Australia in front of 80,000 people!” the Aussie champion said.

The reception to Lopez's outrageous comments were equally as disapproving on Twitter, with fans labelling the 24-year-old a sore loser.


 


 


 


 

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Ed Chisholm Photo
Ed Chisholm

Ed Chisholm is a content producer for Sporting News Australia.