Mikey Garcia vs Juan Manuel Lopez Review

By Peter Wells (twitter @boxingbrains):

After years of hard work and tough grafting, it took just 2lbs for Mikey Garcia to lose the WBO Featherweight title. Garcia and his camp have received plenty of criticism but it was Garcia himself who was effected the worst as he lost the chance to defend his world title for the first time.

Yet despite the disappointment there was a welcome consolation prize. An impressive 4th round stoppage of former star of the future, Juan Manuel Lopez was all that Mikey could do to improve the frustration of losing his WBO strap. With an impressive variety of punches, Garcia chopped down Lopez with considerable ease, proving that Lopez truly is a hollow version of the fighter he once was 3 years ago.

Before the fight began, I refused to read too much into the Orlando Salido defeats on Lopez's record, instead believing that JuanMa could pull off the upset. But that tiny feeling was squashed in the 4th round, when a left hook sent the Puerto Rican to the canvas for the second and last time in the contest. Lopez came to fight, but he simply lacked the skills to compete with the brilliant counter-punching of the Mexican, Garcia.

The first round was close. Garcia dominated with his jab for the majority of the round, but Lopez fired in some powerful one-twos which caught Garcia's attention. The next stanza was all Garcia, the jab rarely missing and suddenly JuanMa's vulnerabilities seemed all too easy to exploit. A desperate flurry from the fists of Lopez was punished with a single, accurate right hand which left Lopez seated on the canvas.

The third wasn't a bad round for Lopez, who seemed to have recovered well, but his failure to defend himself after letting his hands go was punished almost every time by the fast counters from Garcia.

Then in the 4th round of the fight, Lopez, after being caught with a right hand became reckless and Garcia on the back foot landed heavy shots, snapping JuanMa's head back with every blow. One final punch and Lopez was down and unsteady on his feet. Referee Rafael Ramos rightly called a halt to proceedings, declaring Garcia the winner by way of technical knockout.

A third stoppage defeat of his career for JuanMa - 33-3(30) - leaves the Puerto Rican in a sticky situation. Despite that Lopez has name value, which may warrant him at least one more world title shot. Outside of that if Gary Russell Jr is ready for the step up in class then a fight between himself and Lopez would be interesting to watch.

As for Garcia now 32-0(27) , he did express his desire to remain at Featherweight where lucrative fights with the likes of Abner Mares, Chris John and possibly Guillermo Rigondeaux lie in wait. But if and when Garcia feels that he should move up to Super Featherweight a Puerto Rico-Mexico match-up looks likely against Roman 'Rocky' Martinez.

On the undercard, Terence Crawford once again impressed, dominating Alejandro Sanabria before the Mexican was stopped in the 6th.

Just three months after out boxing Breidis Prescott over 10 rounds, Crawford took the fight to Sanabria to prove that he has the power to match his skills. Crawford now 21-0(16), is looking at a bright future in boxing, although Max Kellerman's claim that he is the best 135lbs fighter in the world, is a few stretches too far. As for Sanabria he drops to a still impressive 34-2-1(25) after his first contest outside of Mexico.