If all Teofimo Lopez ever does in his career is summed up in his pair of wins over Vasyl Lomachenko and Josh Taylor, no one will be able to say he didn’t have a hell of a career.

It’s as good a pair of wins as anyone in the sport has put together in the last three years. 

Lopez’s epitaph in boxing will say, at the very least, he was the lineal champion at 135 and 140 lbs. and won both crowns as an underdog. When Lopez beat Lomachenko, the Ukrainian was riding as good a wave as anyone in boxing. Just weeks ago, Lomachenko ran current undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney to the wire. 

Lopez’s victory over Lomachenko was more decisive than Haney’s.

The win Lopez put together on Saturday over undefeated Josh Taylor was more decisive still. 

Taylor was returning from a long layoff and the worst performance of his professional career, but for a couple of rounds he sure looked like himself. The fighter who won the World Boxing Super Series with a decision over Reis Prograis and unified the division against Jose Ramirez with two knockdowns was as hot as anyone in the sport.

On Saturday, Taylor came out intent on being that fighter again. He was aggressive, his punch placement was smart, and after round three it looked like anyone’s fight. 

That’s when Lopez started to take over and never looked back. Fighting with patience and authority, Lopez was making Taylor miss and making him pay with effective, quick counters. As the fight progressed, it became a question of whether Lopez might even be able to stop a Taylor who he stunned multiple times. 

Learning lessons from recent fights, Lopez never really broke out of his gameplan. There was no rushing his offense, his punch selection was excellent, and his defense was solid. It was the best performance of a still-young career, reigniting all the excitement that was there after the Lomachenko win.

Now the test is what comes next.

Futures: Last time Lopez reached the top of the mountain, he couldn’t stay there. Part of the problem with getting wins like Lomachenko and Taylor is it sets a high bar in terms of expectations. Fans know what Lopez is capable of. 

They also know what he looked like in the three fights between Lomachenko and Taylor. Lopez has proven he can succeed given the right big nights, but now we get to find out if he can genuinely build on success. There are some fantastic fights out there for him to find that answer. 

And no, talk of retirement is not to be taken seriously. 

Jose Ramirez and a rising Haney would be excellent matches. Jr. welterweight is loaded enough to be interesting all around. Lopez has the driver’s seat and is back where he was before a disastrous loss to George Kambosos. The talent has always been there. If he can keep putting it together like he did Saturday, the consistency could be too. 

For Taylor, this loss could be a turning point. A move to welterweight is probably overdue but where does he go there? Crawford and Spence have business and the division beneath them is getting younger. Boxing life isn’t going to get easier for the now former champion.

Cliff’s Notes…

Adrien Broner is back in the ring and maybe the best thing for him is to get back in there a few times in short order to see if he can really find some form again but the buzzards will circle to cash in sooner than later. He still has name value in bigger fights...Sunny Edwards is one of boxing’s better pure technicians and it’s going to take an elite talent to beat him at flyweight…Fight of the year? It’s certainly a candidate. Jaime Munguia looked like he was hitting a wall in the second half against Sergiy Derevyanchenko but he dug deep and found a new layer. Let’s hope Munguia builds on the win with more serious opponents because that was fun.   

Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene, a founding member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, a member of the International Boxing Research Organization, and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com