Light heavyweight prospect-slash-contender Najee Lopez showed why he is so highly touted when he dispatched Kalvin Henderson in the fifth of a scheduled 10 of a ProBox TV main event Saturday in Kissimmee, Florida.
Lopez opened up with a sharp jab, pinning Henderson’s gloves to his face as he circled with menacing intent. After a largely wary opening frame, in which Henderson mostly watched as Lopez jabbed and circled, Lopez began adding right hands over Henderson's own jab, which was a slow and blunt tool in comparison to Lopez’s rapier-sharp offense.
Through three rounds, Henderson was frustrated, any thoughts of opening up stymied by the constant rat-a-tat-tat of Lopez's jabs. By that stage, Lopez, 15-0 (12 KOs), had outlanded Henderson by 81 punches to 9, highlighted by a second frame in which Lopez landed a recorded 34 blows and Henderson scored with precisely zero.
For those who think of the jab as a punch of little consequence, a dry amuse-bouche to set up the mouthwatering power-punch main course, Lopez was delivering a masterclass demonstration of its effectiveness as a weapon in its own right. Henderson, 19-3-1 (13 KOs), was looking completely flummoxed as Lopez’s jabs peppered his face.
Having softened up his prey, Lopez moved in for the finish in the fifth. After leaning back to encourage a jab, Lopez landed a counter right hand over the top that exploded on the side of Henderson’s jaw. Lopez feinted to the body to drop Henderson's guard just a little, and another right hand detonated. Henderson reeled backward into the ropes, where Lopez teed off on him until referee Massimo Montanini stepped in to halt the contest at 55 seconds of the round.
“I understand that he has the experience, he’s been in there with guys – that he can fight,” said Lopez afterward. “So I just took my time, stuck with the game plan. As soon as I seen him hurt, I knew. Y’all ain't seen nothing yet.”
In the evening’s walkout bout, Juanma Lopez de Jesus, the son of famed junior featherweight and featherweight titlist Juan Manuel “Juanma” Lopez, scored a unanimous decision victory over six junior bantamweight rounds to move to 4-0 (2 KOs).
Although two judges scored the bout 60-52 and the third saw it 59-53, it wasn't a routine outing for the 19-year-old "Juanmita." His opponent, Luis Morales, 4-2 (2 KOs), had a style that might charitably be described as wild, almost literally leaping out of the way of punches and attempting his own by lowering his head and seemingly throwing blindly.
Lopez, however, responded with admirable poise, even when the inevitable clash of heads caused blood to stream down his face. He dropped Morales with a check hook in the third and a left hand in the fifth to seal an impressive victory against the very definition of an awkward opponent.
Kieran Mulvaney has written, broadcast and podcast about boxing for HBO, Showtime, ESPN and Reuters, among other outlets. He presently co-hosts the “Fighter Health Podcast” with Dr. Margaret Goodman. He also writes regularly for National Geographic, has written several books on the Arctic and Antarctic, including most recently Arctic Passages: Ice, Exploration, and the Battle for Power at the Top of the World, and is at his happiest hanging out with wild polar bears. His website is www.kieranmulvaney.com.
