Behind Teofimo Lopez’s body attack: When your Opponent’s Feet aren’t set – throw! (PART 1)
In the first 7 rounds, Vasiliy Lomachenko circled the ring while Teofimo Lopez looked to break through Lomachenko’s guard. While Lomachenko was able to neutralize much of Teofimo Lopez’s offense, Teofimo was smart with his body attack when Lomachenko was not in position to counter. Lopez threw his right cross/hook to the body knowing Loma couldn’t get any counterpunch off, sometimes lunging or shifting southpaw in the process. It was the difference maker in a slow first 7 rounds, which you could argue Teofimo won at least 5, where Teofimo Lopez landed an average of 9.1 punches per round to Lomachenko’s 4.4.
The second half of the fight saw Lomachenko press forward more often, sitting down a little more which took away that body punch. We see the action pick up as Teofimo Lopez lands 24 punche per round to Vasyl Lomachenko’s 22 (in large part to Teofimo landing 50 punches in round 12). The fight changes with Loma coming forward, controlling the lead hand trying to get his favorite angle to the right.
What’s interesting is that Teofimo had his lead foot on the inside of Lomachenko’s most of the night, which is the first thing they teach against in the southpaw-orthodox match-up, and he still did a great job of keeping Loma from getting that angle to his right. I saw four main tactics that Teofimo used to neutralize Vasiliy’s angles, which I’ll post in a video soon!
What did you all see Teo do to neutralize Lomachenko? Post in the comments below
In addition, I posted a breakdown of Teofimo Lopez’ work countering Lomachenko’s angles, and Lomachenko’s subsequent adjustments.
