On Saturday night, Teofimo Lopez accomplished what he sought out to do when he began his professional boxing career in 2016: beat Vasiliy Lomachenko and take over the sport.
Lopez did that by getting aggressive and building an early lead on the judges’ scorecards in the lightweight unification bout against Lomachenko at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Lopez, the IBF champion, held off a steady charge in the late rounds by Lomachenko and took all three of his world titles with the unanimous decision win.
Now, Lopez is the undisputed lightweight champion and perhaps became one of the faces of boxing after beating Lomachenko, who entered Saturday as ESPN’s No. 1-ranked pound-for-pound fighter.
The Brooklyn native was widely praised on social media by some of sports’ biggest stars and A-list celebrities.
Brooklyn was definitely in the house tonight. Lopez is the man to beat. Another Brooklyn champion. #LomaLopez
— Mike Tyson (@MikeTyson) October 18, 2020
World Champion @TeofimoLopez showed great power and skill tonight as he took down the reigning champion Vasiliy Lomachenko. What a fight!!💪🏾🥊
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) October 18, 2020
And the new!!!!!! Omg!! The kid from Brooklyn did it!!! I’m hysterical!
Congrats @TeofimoLopez!!! #LOMALOPEZ @espn @trboxing @ESPNRingside— Rosie Perez (@rosieperezbklyn) October 18, 2020
Some of boxing’s best lauded the 23-year-old Lopez:
Congratulations to @TeofimoLopez for an undisputed great performance.
— Manny Pacquiao (@MannyPacquiao) October 18, 2020
I been telling @trboxing for years @TeofimoLopez was ready good job young fella we been talking about this day for years
— Terence Crawford (@terencecrawford) October 18, 2020
I got my fight against luke Campbell but I would love to fight Lopez, there is still a lot of unanswered questions in this lightweight division
— Ryan Garcia (@KingRyanG) October 18, 2020
Win, lose, or draw. You gotta give Teofimo his credit. How many young champions are fighting a pond for pound champion, in their FIRST defense?#LomaLopez
— Jamel Herring (@JamelHerring) October 18, 2020
Congratulations to the bro @TeofimoLopez 👏🏾
What a fighter! You did exactly what you told me you were gonna do. Enjoy the moment 👊🏾 pic.twitter.com/pjeQOWqgL9— Kell Brook (@SpecialKBrook) October 18, 2020
Lopez vs Haney 2021
Let’s do It! #AllTheBelts— Devin Haney (@Realdevinhaney) October 18, 2020
Teofimo has brains and brawn but he’s a BRUTE & the TRUTH.
— Sergio Mora (@TheLatinSnake_) October 18, 2020
Omg everything you went through made you for this moment @TeofimoLopez
— Franchón Crews-Dezurn (@TheHHDiva) October 18, 2020
I said this quote before… Watch out for these Young Lions 🦁…Congrats @TeofimoLopez
— Eddie Chambers (@champfasteddie) October 18, 2020
Congrats to @TeofimoLopez hell of a show
— Andre Berto (@AndreBerto) October 18, 2020
Just to big and strong!! I thought Loma would be good enough to grind out the win but Teofimo was brilliant tonight. Well deserved champ, youngest four belt champ in history 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 #LomaLopez
— Michael Conlan (@mickconlan11) October 18, 2020
Lopez certainly grabbed the attention of top athletes in other sports on Saturday night:
Y’all gone start listening to me about this boxing 🤷🏽♂️ … 119-109 was wild but I don’t want to hear excuses. Great performance by @teofimolopez
— Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) October 18, 2020
Lopez fasho won though🤣🔥🔥🔥💯
— Trae Young (@TheTraeYoung) October 18, 2020
Congratulations Lopez
— Dez Bryant (@DezBryant) October 18, 2020
Ready to see my dawg @Gervontaa fight. Him and Lopez would be a good one!
— Keenan Allen (@Keenan13Allen) October 18, 2020
Loma waited to long to get busy point blank, Lopez is legit doe 👌🏾
— Tavon Young (@TY_Real1) October 18, 2020