And then Warrington began to march through Lopez and won the final four rounds and appeared to have placed the result in doubt- especially with the fight in the champion's hometown.
However, it was Lopez that squeezed out a majority decision to win the title and return it with him to Mexico and his promoter Top Rank,
I had Lopez surviving the late Warrington push by the same two scores as the judges at 115-113 with the other judges scoring it even at 114.
Lopez against the IBF's third-ranked contender Mauricio Lara would be a guaranteed fight of the year but Lara is behind Kiko Martinez and with Lopez with Top Rank and Lara promoted by Matchroom (Warrington-Lopez saw the two promotions work together due to the mandatory) that fight might not happen until it is mandated.
Lopez-Martinez could be easy to make with both promoted by Matchroom though and the IBF could order Lara-Martinez as an eliminator for the next mandatory.
Whatever it takes to make Lopez-Lara as that pairing seems to be a guaranteed fight of the year candidate.
Don't be surprised if Lopez makes an in-house defense with another European road trip against Top Rank-promoted Michael Conlan in Ireland in a fight that may make him the most immediate money.
As for the former champion, Warrington is now 1-2-1 in his last four fights and the best match that he could have might be against minor champion Leigh Wood, should the WBA finally clean up their featherweight mess with Leo Santa Cruz and Wood.
In Dublin, the aforementioned Michael Conlan blew out former bantamweight title challenger Karim Guerfi in one round of a featherweight event.
It was Conlan's second win since his March loss to Leigh Wood and as I mentioned above, I would not be surprised to Conlan challenge Luis Alberto Lopez sometime next year.
Boxing Challenge
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