Rodriguez shuts out Lopez to win vacant IBF bantamweight title

Russell blows away Cruz in 1st round to maintain perfect KO record; Maestre authors 2nd-round destruction of Marshall

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OXON HILL, Md. — Emmanuel Rodriguez pitched a shutout against Melvin Lopez in a performance that he punctuated with three knockdowns in the final minute of the fight to win the vacant IBF bantamweight title on Saturday night at the MGM National Harbor, just outside of Washington, D.C.

Rodriguez, who reclaimed the 118-pound title he lost by second-round knockout to Naoya Inoue during the World Boxing Super Series in 2019, won 120-105 on all three scorecards in the main event of a Premier Boxing Champions tripleheader on Showtime.

Inoue, who went on to become the undisputed bantamweight champion in December, relinquished all the belts in January, which opened the door for Rodriguez and Lopez, the IBF’s leading contenders, to meet for one of the vacant titles.

It was all Rodriguez from the outset in a measured, sometimes slow-paced fight. But while Rodriguez (22-2, 13 KOs), 31, of Puerto Rico, landed solid shots and put rounds in the bank, Lopez was extremely ineffective and even when he did land his blows he did not seem to have much on them.

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