Los Angeles— Josesito Lopez climbed onto the ropes and regarded the shocked fans through swollen eyes. Raising his gloves and stretching his arms wide, he greeted their boisterous cheers with one long, joyous shrug.
Even if he couldn’t quite believe it, Lopez knew how to celebrate one of the biggest upsets in recent boxing history.
Lopez stopped star Victor Ortiz after nine rounds Saturday night, apparently breaking Ortiz’s jaw to end a stunning victory for an unheralded welterweight from nearby Riverside.
After trading damaging shots and momentum swings throughout a closer-than-expected bout, Ortiz stayed on his stool before the 10th round could begin, his corner stopping the fight when the injury left Ortiz unable to close his mouth. An instant later, Lopez (30-4, 18 KOs) and his retinue of trainers and promoters turned the ring into a joyous mosh pit.
“I knew I had to fight the fight of my life to win,” said Lopez, who has never fought for a world title. “I knew the longer it went, the better chance I’d have. He hits hard, but I was never going to quit. I knew it was a close fight on the scorecards, and I knew I could press him more and more if I continued. He’s like a tree. I had to chop him down.”
Lopez accepted the fight last month as a late replacement for Andre Berto, whose failed doping test scuttled the eagerly anticipated rematch of Ortiz’s unanimous decision over Berto in a tumultuous bout in April 2011.
Ortiz (29-4-2) was narrowly leading on all three judges’ scorecards when he quit, but the former welterweight champion didn’t dominate as expected in his first bout since getting stopped by Floyd Mayweather Jr. last September.
Although Ortiz repeatedly tagged Lopez with shots throughout the bout, producing swelling around both of Lopez’s eyes, Lopez repeatedly replied with big shots of his own – and he even taunted Ortiz with come-at-me gestures that thrilled the crowd.
Another KO
Argentina’s Lucas Matthysse also stopped Mexico’s Humberto Soto after five rounds with a barrage of punches at the bell in a thrilling 140-pound fight on the undercard.
Ortiz was so confident of a victory over Lopez that he already agreed to his next fight: a showdown in Las Vegas in September with Mexican star Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, who watched this bout from ringside. /ap