Josesito Lopez pulled off a huge upset win by halting Victor Ortiz in the ninth round of their welterweight clash in Los Angeles.
Underdog overcomes illegal blow to the head in fifth round
Josesito Lopez pulled off a huge upset win by halting Victor Ortiz in the ninth round of their welterweight clash in Los Angeles.
Lopez stepped in as a replacement after Andre Berto failed a drug test and he bravely stood and traded with Ortiz, who was narrowly ahead on the scorecards of the three judges when he quit the fight due to a broken jaw.
Ortiz's promoters, Golden Boy, had already pencilled in a future fight with Saul Alvarez, who was watching on from ringside, but the best laid plans may now have gone to waste.
Lopez was willing to go toe-to-toe with the heavily favoured Californian, even shrugging off an illegal right behind the head that stunned him in the fifth.
Crisper punches
The crisper, quality punches appeared to come from Ortiz, but he was being dragged into a dogfight and was flagging before a left hook from Lopez jolted his jaw in the ninth.
Ortiz, who was ahead 86-85, 87-84, 88-83, struggled to close his mouth at the end of the round and informed the referee he was unable to continue, sparking wild scenes of celebration in the other corner.
"I told everyone I was going to shock the world," Lopez said. "Today's my day. Today's my day.
"I'm excited. I had to fight the fight of my life to win. I knew I caught him every round. I might not have thrown the majority of the punches, but the ones I was throwing, I knew I was connecting."
On the undercard at the Staples Center, Argentina's Lucas Matthysse stopped Mexico's Humberto Soto after five rounds.
