Emmanuel Rodriguez wins IBF bantamweight title for second time with unanimous decision over Melvin Lopez

Emmanuel Rodriguez won the vacant IBF bantamweight title with a dominant twelve-round unanimous decision over Melvin Lopez at MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland, on Saturday, August 12, 20231. All three judges scored the fight 120-105 in favour of Rodriguez.

In the first round, both fighters had moments with solid punches connecting. During the second round, Rodriguez was connecting with very accurate punches and was outboxing Lopez during the third round. The pace seemed to slow down by the fourth round, with Rodriguez just pressing and outboxing Lopez as the first half played out. Lopez would look to counter as Rodriguez would come inside, but he was unable to connect with anything big.

By the eighth round, the right eye of Rodriguez was swelling up. While there were numerous head clashes, the commission ruled the damage as being from punches. Rodriguez started to up the tempo with his combinations. While the eye continued to swell rapidly, Rodriguez was outboxing and out-landing Lopez for the remainder of the fight.

In the twelfth and final round, Rodriguez closed the fight strong when he dropped Lopez with heavy body shots. Lopez got up, but he was dropped two more times with shots to the head and body before the round closed out.