Felix Verdejo was in action tonight, live from the Coliseo Mario ‘Quijote’ Morales in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rican Verdejo (17-0, 13KOs) squared off against Marco Antonio Lopez of Mexico in a scheduled 10rounder, contested at the lightweight limit of 135lbs.
This was a chance for Verdejo to stay busy as Top Rank gets ready to make a significant promotional push on the 21 year old fighter.
Verdejo kept his distance early and worked from the outside, utilizing his jab to figure out his preferred distance against Lopez. Lopez was outmatched in the speed department and even when he let his hands go he was too far from Verdejo to make anything count.
Verdejo mixed up the offense and landed hard body shots, but he also benefited from calculated combinations upstairs. He was tactical in the fight and didn’t just rush in an attempt to blitz his opponent. Instead, he took what he could and made it count.
Lopez had very few moments in the fight, but he was most successful when countering and managed to slip a few through the guard of Verdejo.
Verdejo was just too sharp and he kept the fight at his distance, which made it impossible for Lopez to capitalize off of and allowed Verdejo to make the most of the range.
After 3 rounds of domination, Verdejo turned up the heat in the 4th and landed hard right hands on Lopez, who was pinned against the ropes at the time. Verdejo continued the damaging assault in the middle of the ring to close the round.
In the 5th round, Verdejo hurt Lopez with a left that had a time delay reaction and forced Lopez to take a knee. Moments later, Verdejo smelt the blood and went for the finish with a barrage of hard punches that caused the referee to call a halt to the bout.
Verdejo looked impressive and he is already scheduled to fight again in June. This could be a breakout year for Verdejo and tonight’s Unimas main event may have been his last.
