Lopez stops Lontchi in 9th round

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP)—Juan Manuel Lopez stopped Olivier Lontchi in the ninth round to retain the WBO junior featherweight title Saturday night.

For Lopez (26-0, 24 KOs), the TKO was his 14th consecutive knockout.

“I knew going to be difficult,” Lopez said. “He was very awkward and very difficult to fight. I think the he was way fighting he wasn’t really boxing. He was running a lot. I didn’t feel like I was fighting as much as chasing. But I knew my strength would eventually get to him. I thought my power would wear him down.”

The 26-year-old earned the win when Lontchi went to his corner after the ninth round and told trainer Howard Grant he was unable to continue.

“He had a rib injury coming into the fight and he got hit with a bad shot there the round before (the eighth),” Grant said. “He actually wanted me to stop it after the eighth, but I told him to try it for one more round.”

Lopez, cheered on by a sparse-but-enthusiastic crowd of Puerto Rican supporters at Boardwalk Hall’s Adrian Phillips Ballroom, scored two knockdowns in the scheduled 12-round bout.

He dropped Lontchi for the first time in the second round with a right hook to the side of the head. Early in the ninth, Lontchi walked into a straight left and went down in a heap before rising on unsteady legs.

Welterweight champion Miguel Cotto may be the most popular fighter in Puerto Rico, but Lopez is not far behind.

“He’s a superstar, no question about it,” said Lopez’s promoter, Top Rank CEO Bob Arum. “I can’t see anybody who can stand up to him in the junior-featherweight or featherweight division.”

Lontchi, a native of Cameroon now living in Montreal, also earned some kudos with a respectable effort. The 26-year-old did not have enough firepower to slow Lopez’s advances, but did his best to frustrate Lopez with an unorthodox style that included steady movement interspersed with occasional flurries.

Lopez, who was defending his title for the fourth time, appeared headed for an easy win when he dropped Lontchi in the second round. Two rounds later, however, Lontchi began to find the mark with his own punches. He caught Lopez off-guard with a series of crisp, straight rights that sent sweat flying from Lopez’s brow and caused his fans to gasp in surprise.

With each passing round, Lontchi gained confidence. Lopez was still in command most of the time, but Lontchi didn’t wilt.

That was especially apparent in the seventh round. Lopez punished Lontchi with a body attack that drove him into the ropes. But instead of buckling, Lontchi gamely fought back and even landed a straight right that caused Lopez to briefly back away.

Lopez was relentless.

According to CompuBox statistics, Lopez landed 244 of 592 punches (41 percent) to 84 of 271 for Lontchi (31 percent). He also owned a 211-65 advantage in power punches.

Lopez headlining Top Rank card on Boardwalk

By DAVE SKRETTA, AP Sports Writer

NEW YORK (AP)—Juan Manuel Lopez watched countryman Miguel Cotto fill Madison Square Garden on the eve of the Puerto Rican Day parade and marveled at how thousands of people gravitated toward the welterweight champion.

The young super bantamweight champ imagines himself in the same role one day.

“I know I’m getting to the level I can headline,” said Lopez, who will defend his title against little-known Olivier Lontchi on Saturday night in Atlantic City. “But I do look forward to a year, two years down the line, being the headline on that night.

“That’s the dream. That’s every Puerto Rican’s dream.”

Lopez won his title on the boardwalk last year by knocking out Daniel Ponce De Leon in the first round, ending his three-year title reign.

He’s been busy ever since.

The hard-hitting Lopez (25-0, 23 KOs) has already defended his title three times, all by knockout, and aced arguably the most difficult test of his burgeoning career in April, when he dismantled Gerry Penalosa on the way to a 10th-round stoppage. It was the 13th straight fight Lopez has ended early.

“At 122 (pounds),” promoter Bob Arum said, “he’s beginning to run out of opponents.”

That’s why Arum intends to build a worthy challenger over course of the next 18 months, or at the very least a worthwhile test. Few believe that Lontchi (18-0-2, 8 KOs) stands much of a chance, so Arum has already requested the theater at Madison Square Garden for Sept. 26, when he hopes Lopez and exciting Cuban knockout artist Yuriorkis Gamboa will be on the same card in separate fights.

Then, down the road, the two would ultimately face each other.

“They don’t know who Gamboa is and they don’t know who this kid is, but that’s my job in the next year, to make that a must-see fight they put on pay-per-view,” Arum said. “I don’t know if I can do it, but that’s what I’m going to try to do.”

Arum knows better than anyone that things can change quickly in boxing.

Just look at how the card Saturday night came together.

It was originally headlined by middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik defending against Sergio Mora, but that fight was scrapped months ago. A bout involving Paul Malignaggi and unbeaten Mike Alvarado was scratched when Alvarado was hurt sparring, and a bantamweight title bout between Fernando Montiel and Eric Morel was postponed when Montiel hurt his hand.

Top Rank wound up turning the event into one of its “Latin Fury” cards, which are designed to showcase some of its top fighters from Mexico and Puerto Rico.

The co-main event is a super flyweight fight between Jorge Arce (51-5-1, 39 KOs), who was convincingly stopped by Vic Darchinyan in a February title fight, against Filipino challenger Fernando Lumacad (19-1-2, 7 KOs).

“I will fight again for the title,” said Arce, who once held an interim super flyweight title. “Maybe next year, I will fight (Darchinyan) again.”

Also on the card, Vanes Martirosyan (24-0, 15 KOs) takes on Andrey Tsurkan (26-4, 17 KOs) in a junior middleweight fight, and Yuri Foreman (27-0, 8 KOs) takes on Cornelius Bundrage (29-4, 17 KOs) in an IBF junior middleweight eliminator.

Foreman may be the most unique story on the card, in that while he’s training to be a world champion he’s also training to be a rabbi. The 28-year-old Belarussian is about 18 months from earning a degree in rabbinical studies.

“Foreman is a real great story, and it will capture everyone’s imagination,” Arum said. “If you tell the story and people are following the story, then people will look for the plus side of what he’s doing in the ring, the skilled boxer he is.

“He can’t punch hard,” Arum added. “But he tells me, ‘I don’t punch hard, I don’t hurt anybody, because it’d be wrong for a rabbi to do that.”