The scorecards were wider than I thought Gonzalez deserved at 118-110, 117-111, and 116-112, although I gave Lopez the narrow edge at 115-113.
Lopez started faster, putting many of the early rounds in the bank and causing bruising around both of the eyes of Gonzalez with sharper punches than those of the challenger.
Gonzalez did make a late charge to make the fight closer, winning four of the final five rounds but Lopez's earlier work was enough to win on my card and the fight clearly wasn't in question on the official slates.
I feel bad for Gonzalez, who was making his third and likely final try at a world title unless he works his way back to a title chance in the future and he may be doomed to a fate of being good enough to be a solid top ten boxer but missing that little something that puts him over the top to grab a championship.
Although let's be honest, Gonzalez had this shot fall into his lap being a Top Rank fighter at a time when Top Rank has two of the four featherweight champions in Lopez and WBO boss Robiesy Ramirez and looking for opponents in the 126-pound division.
As for Lopez, who defended his title for the second time, his mandatory isn't due yet and he may have a choice in unification fights with Ramirez and his WBO belt as a fellow Top Rank fighter and while WBA champion Leigh Wood and his challenger next month, former IBF champion Josh Warrington, are signed with Matchroom, the companies worked together before when Lopez dethroned Warrington last year, Lopez is known in the UK after his wins over Warrington and Michael Conlan, and should Warrington win, a rematch would be very viable.
Should Wood keep his title, Wood vs. Lopez would make sense but lacks the natural storyline of Lopez-Warrington II.
An interesting portion of the Top Rank/ESPN+ card was Timothy Bradley's trip to a judging seminar and Bradley stated- damage doesn't count in scoring pro boxing.
And it's not supposed to but unless you see something occur such as a headbutt for example, damage is accomplished through punches and it is not a reach to say that is fairly easy to see.
However, some fighters bruise up more than others and it's not always a fair way to judge who won or lost a fight but it can sway fans that don't watch the entire fight or watch the match closely and influence their thoughts on who deserved the win.
I don't think I learned anything that I didn't know from Bradley's visit but it did make me think a little about the above statement and perhaps that has a lot to do with the constant disagreements with jidgeing by fans.
The fight may be the same but the judges and the fans are looking at the fight from two different aspects of what is and isn't important.
Boxing Challenge
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