Luis Alberto “El Venado” Lopez won the IBF featherweight belt on a majority 12-round points decision against defending champion Josh Warrington at the First Direct Arena in Leeds, England on Saturday night.
Lopez (27-2; 15), the mandatory challenger, made a good start winning the early rounds as Warrington (32-2-1; 8) came on strong in the later rounds, but this was not enough for two of the judges.
The scores were 115-113 twice and 114-114.
In another development, Teofimo Lopez (18-1; 13), the undisputed world lightweight champion was made to work hard in scoring a 10-round split decision over Sandor Martin (40-3; 13) in a junior welterweight bout on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Martin’s nose was broken in the first round after a clash of heads and he scored a flash knockdown with a short right hand in the second round. The scores were 97-92 and 96-93 for Lopez and 95-94 for Martin. –AFP
