Luis Lopez Destroys Michael Conlan; Nick Ball And Cacace Score Easy Wins
Making the first defense of the IBF featherweight title, Luis Alberto “El Venado” Lopez (28-2, 16 KOs) lived up to his reputation of being a road warrior as he scored a fifth-round knockout over Michael Conlan (18-2, 9 KOs) at SSE Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Fighting in his hometown of Belfast, the challenger tried to keep the fight on the outside and box in the first two rounds. But one of the best attributes of Lopez is his temperament. He’s relaxed in the ring, which allows him to adjust on the fly.
Lopez rocked Conlan with a right uppercut to the chin with fifty seconds to go in round three. At that moment, the champion smiled as if he had figured out his opponent.
The champion connected with power punches during the fourth. In the first minute of the fifth, another right uppercut from Lopez put Conlan down flat on his back. Immediately, Conlan’s corner threw in the towel. It was an impressive performance from El Venado, who is making a case that he could be the best in the world in the featherweight division.
NICK BALL STOPS LUDUMO LAMATI TO REMAIN UNDEFEATED
England’s Nick Ball (18-0, 11 KOs) used his physicality and combination punching to overwhelm and score a twelfth-round stoppage over Ludumo Lamati (21-1-1, 11 KOs) in a junior lightweight contest. Ball fights like an energizer bunny in boxing gloves. He was constantly on the attack from the opening bell. Despite being significantly shorter than his foe, Ball found plenty of success landing right hands from the outside in the early rounds.
Unable to land from a distance, Lamati changed tactics in the middle rounds. He started to fight on the front foot. But that played into Ball’s hands. The shorter Brit went to work on Lamati’s body.
As the rounds went on, Lamati began to show signs of fatigue. Late in round ten, Ball had Lamati reeling. With fifty seconds to go in the twelfth and final round, Lamati’s corner threw in the towel as their fighter was taking a beating. Ranked fourth by the WBC and eighth by the WBA at featherweight, Ball hopes to land a world title shot by the end of the year.
ANTHONY CACACE EARNS HARD-EARNED DECISION OVER DAMIAN WRZESINSKI
Fighting in front of his hometown fans of Belfast, Northern Ireland, world-ranked junior lightweight Anthony Cacace (21-1, 7 KOs) outpointed durable Damian Wrzesinski (26-2-2, 7 KOs) by a unanimous decision (118-111, 117-111, 116-112) at the SSE Arena.
Cacace is an unorthodox switch-hitting boxer. He used his height and reach advantages to pile up the points and frustrate Wrzesinski in the first three rounds. Wrzesinski had some success in the fourth and fifth as he applied more pressure and found success with overhand rights.
But in the middle rounds, Cacace found his groove. The fighter from Belfast did an excellent job re-establishing the distance and regained control of the fight. Cacace was the faster fighter throughout. He began to land the right hand more consistently and got off with combinations to the head and body.
Overall, it was a comfortable win. Despite not being happy with his performance, Cacace called for a fight with either IBF junior lightweight champion Joe Cordina or WBO champion Emanuel Navarrete.
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