Lopez settles for decision vs. Gonzalez, retains featherweight title
Zayas bashes, bloodies Valenzuela; Vargas blitzes Guardado
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Luis Alberto Lopez said before defending the IBF featherweight title against Joet Gonzalez that his “huge goal” for the fight was to become the first man to knock Gonzalez out.
While “El Venado” (“The Deer”) did not come close to knocking him out, or even knocking him down for that matter, he nonetheless won a clear unanimous decision to retain his 126-pound belt for the second time in the Top Rank Boxing on ESPN main event Friday night — the eve of Mexican Independence Day — at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas.
The judges had Mexico’s Lopez winning 118-110, 117-111 and 116-112 in a fight that he dominated through the first half as he handily outboxed and outpunched Mexican-American Gonzalez. Fight Freaks Unite had it 115-113 for Lopez, whose lead shrunk as Gonzalez appeared to rally over the final third of the fight.
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