By Keith Idec
NEW YORK – Undefeated featherweight prospect Michael Conlan beat Ibon Larrinaga by unanimous decision in the final undercard bout before ESPN’s live broadcast began Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.
Northern Ireland’s Conlan went the distance for the second time in his short pro career. He won all eight rounds on each of the three judges’ scorecards (80-72, 80-72, 80-72) to improve to 7-0.
Spain’s Larrinaga slipped to 10-2. His only other loss was a second-round technical knockout defeat to Artiz Pardal (12-2-1, 10 KOs) on December 15.
Conlan mostly controlled the action. The 2016 Olympian landed his straight right regularly in the fifth round, when he appeared to start wearing down Larrinaga.
A resilient Larrinaga was able to take everything Conlan landed thereafter, though, and made it to the final bell.
“It’s always going to be hard to look good against a guy who is backing up,” Conlan said. “But I’m happy because I was composed and working on things I need to work on. I’ve only had seven pro fights, so this was a good learning experience.”
Also in action, Teofimo Lopez wasted no time in finishing off VitorFreitas in the fourth fight on the Vasiliy Lomachenko-Jorge Linares undercard.
The talented, powerful lightweight prospect needed just one minute and four seconds to knock out Freitas in a scheduled eight-round bout. Lopez’s right hand appeared to graze the side of Freitas’ head, but Freitas went down and couldn’t get up before referee Anthony Chiarantano counted to 10.
Unlike his previous fight, the 20-year-old Lopez (9-0, 7 KOs) left the ring completely unscathed Saturday night. In his last fight, the Brooklyn-bred, Las Vegas-based Lopez easily out-boxed Juan Pablo Sanchez in their six-rounder, but not before he suffered a long cut over his left eye.
