Juan Manuel Lopez vs. Steven Luevano: Round By Round

Since Yuriorkis Gamboa disposed of Roger Mtagwa so quickly, there is time to kill on HBO's Boxing After Dark as we await Juan Manuel Lopez and Steven Luevano. Bob Papa spends a few minutes with Miguel Cotto, who talks about his probable next bout against Yuri Foreman at Madison Square Garden in June.

Lopez is sponsored by IHOP. Interesting sponsor. I like it.

Here we go...

Round 1
We are going double lefty to start. Not much action in first 30 seconds. Probing jabs both ways. Luevano showing movement. He got a straight in there. Both men are being careful. Lopez gets in a nice left. Luevano trying to counter. Lopez being more economical with the output of jabs. Right from Lopez. Tying up. Interesting first round. Could have gone either way.

Uatu: Lopez 10-9
Franchise: Lopez 10-9

Round 2
Lederman goes Lopez as well. Lopez lands nicely. Lopez trying to work his way in. He is throwing the more authoritative shots. Luevano doing the circling. Jabs both ways. Tying up inside. Couple nice shots from Luevano. Jab makes Lopez miss. Lopez closes with a combo. Another close round.

Uatu: Luevano 10-9
Franchise: Lopez 10-9

Round 3
Lederman goes Lopez in round 2. Lopez gets in a monster left. Shakes Luevano a little. He seems to have recovered. Lopez looks stronger. His margin of error is larger. Luevano not giving up. Trying to dig to the body. Luevano goes body again. Lopez gets in a few. Best action so far. Uppercut from Lopez. Luevano pumps away with the jab. Lopez backs Luevano up. Jab from Luevano looks nice. Round closes with Lopez charging.

Uatu: Lopez 10-9
Franchise: Lopez 10-9

Round 4
Lederman has it 3-0. Not much going on in the first minute of consequence. Lopez lands a nice 1-2. Lopez pressing and gets in some more shots. Lopez working the in fighting. Lopez doing some damage. Luevano retreats. Luevano trying to keep him at bay. I would say this round was the most in favor of Lopez yet.

Uatu: Lopez 10-9
Franchise: Lopez 10-9

Round 5
Exchanges that Lopez gets the better of. Luevano swinging hard as well though. Lopez throwing blocked right hooks. 1-2 from Lopez. Luevano ducks and grabs. Luevano hanging tough. Nice uppercut from Lopez. Luevano working the body. Luevano walking forward more. Another close round.

Uatu: Lopez 10-9
Franchise: Luevano 10-9

Round 6
Lederman gave 5 to Luevano. Slow first 30 seconds that favored Lopez. Lopez being aggressive. He may win this fight on activity and aggression alone. A little more grabbing this round. Same type of action. Jabs from Luevano. Power shots from Lopez. Luevano staying mobile. Not too much of significance that round, although Lopez outlanded 2-1 according to HBO stats.

Uatu: Lopez 10-9
Franchise: Lopez 10-9

Round 7
Round starts with a headbutt warning to Lopez. Nice uppercut from Lopez as Luevano was working his way in. Down goes Luevano! He gets up, but the fight is stopped! Surprising ending.

Replays will be interesting.

Uppercut. Attempts to blast the head. Hooks to the body. Big right hook, Big left hook to the head. And that was it.

The winner by TKO at 0:44 of Round 7... and new WBO featherweight titleholder... Juan Manuel Lopez!

Nothing too interesting in the post-fight interview. Although he did mention Juan Manuel Marquez in addition to Gamboa, which would be an interesting battle of the JuanMa's.

That's it.

Posted by uatu