Mikey Garcia stopped Juan Manuel Lopez in the fourth round on Saturday, leaving the WBO featherweight title vacant after Garcia failed to make weight.
Garcia (32-0) weighed in at 128 pounds (58kg) on Friday, two pounds over the featherweight limit. Lopez weighed in at 125.5 pounds (57kg). Even though he tried to shed a couple pounds before the weigh-in, Garcia knew it was likely he was going to have to forfeit his title.
“The disappointment was there because I lost my title,” Garcia said. “I was crying a little bit because I knew I wasn’t the champion, but everybody got a chance to see I’m a good fighter. This was a satisfying victory.”
Photo: AFP
Garcia put Lopez on the ground with a strong left-handed blow 1 minute, 34 seconds into the fourth round for his 27th career knockout.
Lopez (33-3) would have regained the title with a win.
Garcia won the title from Orlando Salido on a unanimous decision in New York on Jan. 19. However, the title reign was short-lived after Garcia did not make weight.
Photo: AFP
The only two losses of Lopez’s career were to Salido. The first one cost him the WBO belt, and the second led to a one-year suspension by Puerto Rican boxing officials when he accused the referee who stopped the fight of betting on the match.
Lopez had won twice since his one-year ban ended, beating Aldimar Silva Santos in February and knocking out Eugenio Lopez in an undercard bout in Mexico City in April.
With a majority of fans chanting his name early, the 25-year-old Garcia came out and landed a series of jabs in the first round.
In the second round, Garcia knocked Lopez down with a right cross in the second round. Lopez quickly rose to his feet and completed out the round. Garcia finished off the 29-year-old Lopez two rounds later.
“I was able to land my jab and stand pretty comfortable,” Garcia said. “When I knocked him down, that gave me confidence that I could put him out early.”
Lopez appeared wobbly early in the fourth after Garcia landed a combination of punches. Garcia finished him off with a powerful left cross. Lopez slowly got up and referee Rafael Ramos quickly called the match.
“We executed perfectly,” said Robert Garcia, Mikey’s older brother and co-trainer.
On the undercard, Terence Crawford (21-0) won the vacant NABO lightweight title, stopping Alejandro Sanabria (34-2-1) in the sixth round. Crawford dropped Sanabria with a left hook 17 seconds into the round.
Sanabria got up, but the referee called the fight to give Crawford his 16th knockout victory.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB