By Keith Idec
FRISCO, Texas – “The Takeover” continued just as Teofimo Lopez promised Saturday night.
The fast-rising lightweight contender produced another highlight-reel knockout, this time against two-time championship challenger Diego Magdaleno. The 21-year-old Lopez (12-0, 10 KOs) knocked out Magdaleno with two vicious left hooks in the seventh round at Ford Center at The Star, the Dallas Cowboys’ practice facility.
Magdanelo went down hard after Lopez uncorked a clean shot on him. The referee strangely started to count, but eventually waved an end to a bout that obviously should not have continued.
The time of the stoppage was 1:08 of the seventh round.
Lopez’s impressive victory was streamed by ESPN+ as the co-feature before Eleider Alvarez and Sergey Kovalev engaged in their immediate light heavyweight championship rematch.
Las Vegas’ Magdaleno (31-3, 13 KOs) lost by knockout for the second time in his 11-year pro career. Terry Flanagan stopped him in the second round of their October 2015 fight in Manchester, England, Flanagan’s hometown.
Lopez scored his second sensational knockout in less than two months.
The last time the Brooklyn native competed, he needed just 44 seconds to score one of the most memorable knockouts of 2018. A devastating right hand by Lopez annihilated Mason Menard (34-4, 24 KOs), who was briefly knocked unconscious December 8 in The Theater at Madison Square Garden.
An aggressive Lopez spent the seventh round battering Magdaleno before uncorking those two left hooks that brought the bout to an end.
Lopez viciously clipped Magdaleno with a left hook that sent him to the canvas with 16 seconds to go in the sixth round. Lopez set up that crushing punch with a right hand to the body.
Magdaleno got up and valiantly fought his way to the end of the round.
Lopez wasn’t as accurate in the fourth and fifth rounds as he was earlier in the bout, but he was effective nevertheless.
After hurting Magdaleno badly during the second round, Lopez landed several hard lefts and rights in the third round. Magdaleno managed to land a right hook late in the third as well.
About 45 seconds into the second round, Lopez landed a left hook that knocked Magdaleno backward. About 20 seconds later, Lopez caught Magdaleno with a quick right uppercut that snapped back his head.
A cut also opened along the bridge of Magdaleno’s nose during the second round.
Lopez landed a straight right hand that backed Magdaleno into the ropes late in the right round. Magdaleno shook his head to indicate Lopez hadn’t hurt him, but Lopez’s power obviously began affecting him early in the second round.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
