Juan Manuel Lopez TKO 2 Bernabe Concepcion
Juan Manuel Lopez scored a sensational second round TKO over Bernabe Concepcion in an absolute fire-fight moments ago on Showtime to retain his WBO super featherweight title in front of an frenzied home town crowd in his native Puerto Rico. The bell for Round 1 started and the action was immediate and fierce. Both fighters were loading up and throwing bombs. It was Lopez who connected first, decking Concepcion for the first time in his career with a short inside left hook. The Filipino fighter got up and fought on but was sent down a second time where he was hurt considerably worse. Concepcion got up again and let it all hang out. With very little time remaining in the opening stanza the dazed challenger swung for the fences and dropped the defending champion with a big left hook. Lopez climbed to his feet just as the bell sounded to end a fierce opening round.
In the second Lopez?s accurate attack carried him through some early discomfort and he scored another knock down with a straight left hand. Concepcion climbed to his feet yet again but was badly hurt by a right hand in the follow-up attack and was sent crashing to the canvass for the final time. He struggled to get up and the fight was waived off with the Filipino fighter very disoriented and struggling to find his balance.
The end came at 2:37 of Round 2 and saw the rising Puerto Rican star retain his WBO featherweight title. With the exciting win Lopez improved to 29-0 (26 KOs) , 8-0 in title fights with 7 knockouts.
Lopez now looks forward to a potential superfight later this year with Mexican star Rafael Marquez, a bout which both parties have agreed to in principle.
