A year after his controversial split-decision loss to Raymond Ford, the judges credited Edward Vazquez with a narrow win this time around.
Vazquez landed the flusher punches with more regularity during his closely contested, 10-round featherweight fight Friday night against Misael Lopez and caused a critical knockdown during the second round that emerged as the difference on the decisive scorecard. Judges Greg DiVilbiss (95-94) and Karen Holderfield (96-93) scored their fight for Fort Worth’s Vazquez, who won a split decision in the co-feature of a “ShoBox: The New Generation” broadcast from Stormont Vail Event Center in Topeka, Kansas.
Judge David Sutherland scored the action for Lopez, who won 95-94 on his card.
The 27-year-old Vazquez (14-1, 3 KOs, 1 NC) has won three straight fights since the unbeaten Ford defeated him last February 5 at Footprint Center in Phoenix. Denver’s Lopez lost for the second time in his six-year pro career (14-2, 5 KOs, 1 NC).
Sensing that their fight was close, Vazquez was aggressive at the start of the 10th and final round. He landed a right-left combination barely 30 seconds into it and pressed forward thereafter.
Vazquez landed a left hook that made Lopez reset his feet a little more than a minute into the 10th round. Lopez landed a right hand with about a minute remaining in their fight.
An elusive Lopez landed his fair share of jabs and right hands in the ninth round, yet none of those shots affected Vazquez.
Lopez was the more active, accurate fighter in the first half of the eighth round. Vazquez came on in the second half of the eighth round, when he landed a left hand that moved Lopez into the ropes with about 30 seconds to go in it.
A right hand by Vazquez made Lopez hold him briefly with just under 10 seconds remaining in the seventh round.
Vazquez stung Lopez with a right hand that backed Lopez into the ropes at the midway mark of the seventh round.
Vazquez’s left hook landed with just over 2:10 on the clock in the seventh round.
An assertive Vazquez kept Lopez on his back foot throughout the sixth round, but Lopez landed jabs and snuck in a right hand with about 20 seconds to go in that round. Vazquez’s leaping left hand landed less than 20 seconds into the sixth round.
A left uppercut by Vazquez landed with under 40 seconds on the clock in the fifth round. Vazquez clipped Lopez with a left hook that connected with just under 1:15 to go in the fifth round.
Lopez landed a right hand in an exchange that snapped back Vazquez’s head with exactly a minute remaining in the fourth round. Vazquez blasted Lopez with a right hand 55 seconds into the fourth round.
Vazquez’s left hook connected with about 40 seconds to go in the third round. Vazquez landed the more effective punches throughout that round
Lopez went down with 1:15 to go in the second round. Referee Kevin Champion called it a knockdown, but Lopez argued that he slipped to the canvas.
A replay showed Vazquez landed a left hand to the top of Lopez’s head and caused the official knockdown.
Vazquez landed three left hands in a short span with about a minute into the second round.
Vazquez landed a right uppercut in an exchange with just under a minute to go in the opening round. Lopez largely worked off his jab in the opening three minutes.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
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