Some thoughts on Teofimo Lopez defeating Vasiliy Lomachenko

 

(Scorecard originally published at FightNews.com) Throw out the bad, ridiculous scoring (even 116-112 was off a round) and give earned respect to Teofimo Lopez. He outgutted Vasiliy Lomachenko in round 12 to take the fight 115-113. It reminded me of an exhausted Larry Holmes taking Round 15, and the win, from Ken Norton 40 plus years ago. Loma only won one of the first seven rounds, but he swept 8, 9, 10 and 11 and was poised to get a draw or a win if he floored Lopez in Round 12. But Lopez rallied to win the final stanza. What great heart and determination.

More about the scoring: The 116-112 score for Lopez was defensible. One can argue he swept the first 7 rounds, lost 4 and then took Round 12. However, a 114-114 draw score, as Andre Ward had it, is also defensible. One can argue that Lomachenko won rounds 2, and 7 through 11. I disagree with both. I gave Lomachenko Round 2 (because he stunned Lopez with a combination) but I thought Lopez narrowly won Round 7.

But the 117-111 call for Lopez was mediocre judging and Julie Lederman’s 119-109 call was “this-clown-should-be-fired” bad judging. WE SHOULD BE GRATEFUL that Lopez showed championship heart and dominated Round 12. Imagine if Lomachenko had dominated Round 12 and even knocked down Lopez? He still would have lost a unanimous decision, with Lederman giving Lopez a 7-point victory edge!!!

Notes: Rowdy Akers competed in bareknuckle boxing last weekend in Kansas. He fought valiantly but was stopped by Loren Hermreck. Clay Collard contacted Covid-19 and missed his bout on the Lopez vs Lomachenko undercard against undefeated Quinton Randall. Randall fought and looked impressive in a win. Hopefully, Clay will be back soon. Mountain Force MMA had a card in Grantsville last night. Results are here courtesy of Fighting Out of Utah MMA News Facebook page.

Rowdy Akers earns a bare knuckle fight date with BKFC

A while back we noted that Rowdy Akers, an Idaho combat sports veteran who has fought MMA many times in Utah, journeyed to Kansas for a tryout with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championships. At the time we noted that despite a good tryout, it appeared that Rowdy -- who has pro bare knuckle fighting experience -- was not going to get a call to fight for the promotion. However, that changed. We are pleased to announce that Rowdy was signed to BKFC 13, in Salina, Kan., on Oct. 10. He will meet LJ Hermreck in a preliminary bout on the PPV card. Information on getting the PPV event can be found at the BKFC link above.

We asked Rowdy to tell us a little about the opportunity he's been presented with. He replied:

So, with the pandemic and everything I decided that I would go try out for the BKFC in Kansas a month or so ago. They were giving away two contracts. I went down there by myself with some sponsors that got me a plane ticket in a hotel. The staff at the BKFC said that they were going to let us know in 5 to 7 days. They didn't say anything for a while, a couple of weekends, and then they decided to pick me and give me a fight October 10^th.  I don't know much about my opponent. he's got some MMA fights and this is his bare knuckle debut. I'm 1 and 0 as a professional bare knuckle fighter. My coach is doing the research and me and Jesse Rock will head down to Kansas on Thursday morning and we will do what we need to do. I've been training my ass off and I would love to get my Utah fans something to watch.

We wish Rowdy the best this Saturday.

In other news, in a UFC bout on Oct. 3, Utah's Court McGee lost a competitive decision to Carlos Condit. At the end of a close first round, Condit floored McGee with a right hand. It took Court much of round two to recover although round three was more or less even. 

Also on Oct. 3, former Utah MMA fighter Destiny McCubbin traveled to Florida to fight for the World Class Fight League promotion's flyweight title. Destiny was defeated by Jordyn Orgera. 

Recently MMA professional fighters Kerry Lattimer lost to Ben Hollier in Idaho and Orem MMA pro DeAnna Bennett was defeated by Liz Scarmouche in a Bellator promotion bout, on TV, in Connecticut. 

Due to Covid 19, a Mountain Force MMA card in Logan has been pushed back from a scheduled Sept. 26 date to Friday, Oct. 23, still in Logan. Local fighters Eric Munoz and Jessica Poole are on that card. Munoz' son, Jordan, an amateur MMA fighter, will compete on an Mountain Force MMA card in Grantsville on Oct. 17.

Last night on social media MMA pro Steven Siler announced he will challenge Bobby King for the Fierce Fighting Championship Nov. 14 at The Maverik Center in West Valley.City. That will be an interesting matchup. On the undercard Utah's Thomas "T-train" Prestriedge will make his pro debut.