Richard Commey vs Teofimo Lopez

Ghanian Commey made the 2nd defence of the IBF Lightweight Title he won against Russian Isa Chaniev in a vacant title matchup 10 months earlier. In between, Commey had what might have been the best win of his career thus far when he knocked out former WBO Lightweight champion Reymundo Beltran in 8 rounds.

Lopez had boxing experts singing his praises with a series of high-profile wins against very good opposition. His previous six opponents had a combined 153-9 record and he was being seen as an uncrowned champion.

True to script, Lopez boxed his way comfortably through the first round before clipping Commey in the 2nd with a quick left hook that shook him. Shortly afterwards, the challenger dropped the champion with a huge right hand. Commey did well to get up but when Lopez drove him to the ropes and unloaded a barrage of unanswered blows referee David Fields was left with no other choice than to end the fight at 1:13.

Teo Lopez had fulfilled expectations and would now move on to a big unification match against WBA Super and WBO World Lightweight champion Vasyl Lomochenko.