Vasiliy Lomachenko v Teófimo López: lightweight title unification fight – live!

The fighters are making their ringwalks. First it’s López, the IBF lightweight champion, who emerges from the tunnel to Queen’s Another One Bites the Dust. Now it’s Lomachenko, the WBA and WBO champion, who marches to the ring to Rob Dougan’s Clubbed to Death from the Matrix soundtrack. The ring announcer has taken over and we should be under way any moment.

Arnold Barboza Jr improves to 25 wins in 25 pro fights with a unanimous-decision win over Alex Saucedo in their 10-round junior welterweight fight. The three judges at ringside handed down scores of 96-93, 97-92 and 97-92. (The Guardian had it 97-92.)

“This was like a championship fight to me,” Barboza says. “It’s all because of my father [head trainer Arnold Barboza Sr], not me. I did this for kids and my father. My dream is to get a house for my kids. I came that much closer today.”

He adds: “I want a championship fight. No more messing around. No more tune-up fights.”

Next up: the main event between Lomachenko and López.

We’re midway through the final preliminary fight before tonight’s main event: Alex Saucedo (30-1, 19 KO) and Arnold Barboza Jr (24-0, 10 KOs) in a 10-round junior welterweight matchup. There’s been little to separate either of them throughout a wildly entertaining scrap fought mostly in the confines of a phone booth.

“Once he got in the ring, I looked in his eyes,” Berlanga said. “He didn’t want to be there. So, I had to get him out.”

Asked about his post-fight celebration, where he climbed the turnbuckle and shouted “I am a fucking monster!”: “I’m the first person to stop him, and [I did it] in the first round. So, you know, it just off emotion, off how I really felt. For all the critics out there, all the media, I just felt it in me that I had to say that.”

The blue-chip prospect from Brooklyn said he expects to have another fight before the end of 2020 before a fight at Madison Square Garden next year.

“We’re looking to fight in December,” he said. “I just spoke to Bob [Arum] right now. He’s looking to put me on in December. I’m actually looking forward to fighting in Puerto Rico and then also in June on Puerto Rican [Day Parade] weekend at Madison Square Garden, so God willing, everything goes right, we can make it happen.”

Hello and welcome to tonight’s lightweight title unification showdown between Vasiliy Lomachenko and Teófimo López. The scheduled 12-round bout for the IBF, WBA and WBO titles at 135lbs is the most anticipated fight since the coronavirus pandemic began and it should be under way within the hour.

In undercard news, super middleweight prospect Edgar Berlanga Jr has just improved to 15-0 with 15 knockouts with a first-round TKO of Lanell Bellows, who had never been stopped in 28 previous fights. The Brooklyn super-prospect cut his opponent early and began pouring on punches in combinations until referee Robert Hoyle stepped in after only 79 seconds. Berlanga’s streak of 15 straight first-round knockouts to start his career is fifth longest in the history of boxing after Ali Raymi (21), Tyrone Brunson (19), Edwin Valero (18) and Young Otto (16).