Josh Warrington vs. Luis Alberto Lopez results, highlights as visitor stuns Leeds hero to take title

Dom Farrell

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Josh Warrington vs. Luis Alberto Lopez results, highlights as visitor stuns Leeds hero to take title image

FIRST DIRECT ARENA, LEEDS — Luis Alberto Lopez edged a majority decision to rip the IBF featherweight title from hometown hero Josh Warrington in Leeds.

Fans at the arena watched England lose 2-1 to France in the World Cup quarterfinals before the evening's championship fights and there was a repeated sense of deflation when Lopez (27-2, 15 KOs) won via two 115-113 scorecards, with the third judge scoring the bout a draw.

Warrington (31-2-1, 8 KOs) was making the first defence of his second world title reign after suffering a broken jaw in a barnburner with Kiko Martinez in March.

There was a different flavour to the action against the simultaneously awkward and brash Lopez and, although Warrington finished strongly, it was not enough to get the decision.

MORE: Join DAZN to watch Josh Warrington vs. Luis Alberto Lopez

All the signs of an uncomfortable night were there in round one as Lopez bloodied Warrington's nose in a back-and-forth opening three minutes.

A clash of heads in round two cut Lopez near the eye and began the series of complaints he made about Warrington's rough-housing throughout. When the action was at range, the Mexican did his best work with looping, long shots, while his lead left uppercut was another weapon that Warrington struggled to read.

The Leeds Warrior spent more time than he is usually accustomed to on the back foot, as Lopez stalked forward to set the tempo through the middle rounds.

Warrington sensed his title was slipping away and blasted through some scrappy action with a couple of solid left hooks.

In the final round, Lopez appeared to be wobbled by one of those shots at close quarters and they traded furiously before the bell. Both men jumped on the ropes to celebrate but, tellingly as it would turn out, Lopez's yelps of joy carried more conviction.

In the chief support, Ebanie Bridges defended her IBF bantamweight title with a dominant eighth-round stoppage of Australian rival Shannon O'Connell.

The Sporting News is providing live updates from ringside at First Direct Arena.

MORE: Join DAZN to watch Josh Warrington vs. Luis Alberto Lopez

Josh Warrington vs. Luis Alberto Lopez live results, updates

11:53 p.m. GMT/6:53 p.m. ET: "This is my moment, it comes from hard work in my boxing career," says Lopez through an interpreter. He's being booed by a few Warrington fans who have hung around. He's now laying it on thick and calling Warrington a dirty fighter. Have to admire his moxie.

11:49 p.m. GMT/6:49 p.m. ET: Lopez gets it! It feels like all the air has been sucked out of this boisterous arena. It was close, it really could have gone either way. Howard Foster scored the bout 114-114, with the other two judges finding 115-113 in favour of the Mexican, who has thrown a huge spanner into all of Warrington's best-laid plans for 2023.

The home crowd rouse themselves to chant Warrington's name but he's come up short against another man from Mexico. This was a very different defeat to the reverse against Mauricio Lara. Lopez was a horrible nightmare of an opponent to read. Warrington got his measure down the stretch but it wasn't enough and we have a new world champion at 126 lbs.

Luis Alberto Lopez beats Josh Warrington via majority decision to win the IBF featherweight world title

11:47 p.m. GMT/6:47 p.m. ET: We're awaiting the decision. Eddie Hearn has pulled a face to suggest it could have gone either way. Tony Bellew thinks Lopez won the first half and Warrington won the second half. This is tight.

Round 12: Lopez warned for holding and when they resume Warrington is all over him again. Through sheer force of will he looks to be pulling this one out of the fire late on.  A left hook at close quarters wobbles Lopez in the centre of hge ring. He holds on again. He can ill-afford a point deduction at this stage. Big legt in the final 10 sessions, Lopez sags and then fires back. Both men celebrate at the final bell.

SN unofficial scorecard: Warrington 115-113 Lopez

Round 11: Warrington has an incredible engine on him and he's bringing that to bear in the penultimate session. For the first time tonight Lopez looks in genuine discomfort - as opposed to the moaning to the ref - when a couple of chopping left hooks find his chin. The challenger's in-fight commentary continues as Warrington scores to head and body to edge ahead on this card. It is absolutely not a scorecard I'd take to the bank. This could go any way.

SN unofficial scorecard: Warrington 105-104 Lopez

Round 10: Two tired men in there now. Lopez gets off a nice combination upstairs and that's the best work of the round. Warrington needs to put his punches together more if fatigue allows.

SN unofficial scorecard: Warrington 95-95 Lopez

Round 9: The referee gives them both a talking to but in between some scrappy passages, Warrington is again producing some of his best work of the fight. Lopez gets a breather for a low blow bit Warrington continues to pile in the pressure, with Lopez copping some punishment while complaining about a shot to the back of the head.

SN unofficial scorecard: Warrington 86-85 Lopez

Round 8: Better from Warrington, who sends home a telling right, after which Lopez does some sort of bizarre robot walk to suggest he wasn't hurt. A left to the jaw arguably has more chance of short-circuiting him. The challenger wasn't allowed to dictate those three minutes.

SN unofficial scorecard: Warrington 76-76 Lopez

Round 7: Warrington is having to spend an awful lot of his time on the retreat, which isn't really his game, as Lopez calmly stalks him. There were a couple of telling body shots from the Mexican in that session and even if it's not always landing, the jab is a nuisance.

SN unofficial scorecard: Warrington 66-67 Lopez

Round 6: Lopez seems more comfortable with the pace here, is relaxed in his style and trying to walk Warrington down. He's getting a decent among of shots through but is also intent on talking to his opponent throughout. During one outburst, he cops a Warrington left to the jaw. The champion breaks out into a menacing grin. It turns the round as he finishes in the ascendency.

SN unofficial scorecard: Warrington 57-57 Lopez

Round 5: Nice lead left uppercut from Lopez to start the round. Warrington gets a left around the guard but Lopez is dictating the tempo, throwing his jab from a low trajectory and then gets home a right-hand lead. He's an unorthodox puzzle for Warrington to try and solve and there's some more grappling as the champion ponders his task. A couple of decent rights over the top from Warrington see him end the round better than he started it.

SN unofficial scorecard: Warrington 47-48 Lopez

Round 4: Scrappy stuff in the fourth. Lots of grappling, with Lopez complaining one minute and then laughing his head off the next. What a lark. It's a tough three minutes to split them but the challenger beat him to the punch enough.

SN unofficial scorecard: Warrington 38-38 Lopez

Round 3: A tactical start to the third underlines some of the style contrasts at play. Lopez through his long shots in a looping fashion, with Warrington taking plenty of shots on a tight guard. The champion then backs his man up and scores with a chopping right. Lopez responds with a left to the midriff. They're talking to each other quite a bit, No language barrier here.

SN unofficial scorecard: Warrington 29-28 Lopez

Round 2: Warrington boxing nicely here, despite the fact he's bleeding quite a bit from the now. A right to the body has Lopez complaining to the referee that it was low. It wasn't. Now he has a moan about the head coming in. Not the first time that has been a live issue in a Warrington fight. But have an opponent moaning in front of you is a decent sign. Lopez is bleeding from the edge of this left eye, which I think we from the had clash.

SN unofficial scorecard: Warrington 19-19 Lopez

Round 1: Lopez tries left around the guard, Warrington looks to get the jab going. The challenger is looking to make a fast start but Warrington is tucking up well under his attacks. But some shots have got through because the champion is bleeding from the nose! Lopez getting through plenty of work, back comes Warrington with some body shots. He's dabbing at that nose and looks a little uncomfortable. Lopez tries the uppercut, which would really do the champion no favours, but the champion ends an intriguing opener back on the front foot.

SN unofficial scorecard: Warrington 9-10 Lopez

10:55 p.m. GMT/5:55 p.m. ET: Here we go. We're going round-by-round.

10:53 p.m. GMT/5:53 p.m. ET: Safe to say most people in here have shaken off the post-football malaise. Warrington's ringwalk was electric as usual.

10:45 p.m. GMT/5:45 p.m. ET: Here comes Lopez, who looks pumped full of confidence on his ringwalk. Having said that, so did O'Connell so that might mean absolutely nothing.

10:40 p.m. GMT/5:40 p.m. ET: Okay then, it's main event time and a strange night in Leeds is about to end in a raucous fashion with hometown hero Josh Warrington taking to the ring. There could be huge fights for Warrington in his second world title reign next year, but taking care of business against Luis Alberto Lopez will be no easy task.

Lopez showed how he can be heavy-handed nightmare for anyone when he dropped and stopped Isaac Lowe at the York Hall a year ago, handing Tyson Fury's cousin his first career defeat. He also handed then-undefeated prospect Gabriel Flores Jr a maiden loss in September 2021. He relishes being the underdog and Warrington will have to be sharp early on.

Ebanie Bridges beats Shannon O'Connell (TKO 8) to retain IBF bantamweight title

10:28 p.m. GMT/5:28 p.m. ET: More heavy, heavy shots go in. O'Connell's corner complains about Bridges using the elbow and forearms in clinches but, as a team who recently shared Ricky Hatton's gym, they'll know this isn't a tickling contest. Anyway, the clean right hands rocking O'Connell's head back are the main problem. She was gogging all over the place under sustained fire and Foster decided he's seen enough with 15 seconds of round eight remaining. That's a career-best performance from Bridges and a statement win.

10:24 p.m. GMT/5:24 p.m. ET: Referee Howard Foster was having a long look at O'Connell there, who was on the brink as Bridges unloaded in her opponent's corner, rocking her head back. The swelling under O'Connell's left eye is a bit of a mess. Bridges can certainly close the show with a statement stoppage here.

10:18 p.m. GMT/5:18 p.m. ET: O'Connell is too upright in the exchanges here and the left jab, right hand are there for Bridges all night. The combination that brought the knockdown also had O'Connell wobbled in the fourth. Although the challenger had some success in round five, it's going to take something monumental for her to win from here.

10:11 p.m. GMT/5:11 p.m. ET: After a couple of high-tempo, nip and tuck rounds, Bridges has had a huge third. O'Connell was down and down heavily from straight right hand off the jab. She beat the count but it was a torrid session from the challenger, who has blood coming from the nose.

10:00 p.m. GMT/5:00 p.m. ET: The chief support is about to get underway and this one could really catch fire. IBF bantamweight champion Ebanie Bridges and fellow Australian Shannon O'Connell do not like each other. At all. Bridges has enjoyed a fast-tracked and rapid rise, while this is O'Connell's fourth world-title challenge on a fourth different continent.

9:50 p.m. GMT/4:50 p.m. ET: Cash and Williams have engaged in some back and forth at ringside to talk up a potential future meeting. Things get a little out of hand when Cash shoves Williams. Promoter Eddie Hearn observes the whole thing beaming like a Cheshire Cat.

Felix Cash beats Celso Neves (pts 8)

9:45 p.m. GMT/4:45 p.m. ET: We go to the cards and Cash gets it by 77-75 on the referee's scorecard, moving to 16-0. That was probably harder work than anyone involved with Team Cash anticipated.

9:31 p.m. GMT/4:31 p.m. ET: We're five rounds through the scheduled eight and when Cash was unloading heavy shots during the opening round it didn't look like we'd get that far. But Neves dug deep and bloodied the home fighter's nose in th next session. Cash is winning this but was maybe hoping for something a little more impressive with mooted future opponent Ammo Williams lurking around ringside.

9:10 p.m. GMT/4:10 p.m. ET: Cash and Neves are in the ring. Basel-based Portuguese Neves is the Swiss super-middleweight champion. If we're continuing the 2022 World Cup theme, I've no idea what that might mean in relation to Portugal battering Switzerland 6-1 in the last 16. Mixed emotions for Celso.

9:04 p.m. GMT/4:04 p.m. ET: It's all over in Qatar. Safe to say the atmosphere in the First Direct Arena was pretty flat. The DJ has reached for 'Marching on Together' and 'Mr Brightside' to get everyone going again. All the best.

8:46 p.m. GMT/3:46 p.m. ET: Somewhat regrettably from an England football point of view, it looks like the rest of this card will be starting on time with Felix Cash vs. Celso Neves.

8:35 p.m. GMT/3:35 p.m. ET: Former WBA bantamweight champion Shannon Courtenay returned to action for the first time in 14 months in the undercard, beating Gemma Ruegg over eight rounds, Courtenay's old rival Ebanie Bridges will defender her IBF belt in the chief support contest. There's some serious bad blood between Bridges and fellow Australian Shannon O'Connell.

8:20 p.m. GMT/3:20 p.m. ET: Scenes in Leeds! Here's how Harry Kane's penalty went down in the arena. You can follow all the action with our man Ben Miller here.

7:45 p.m. GMT/2:45 p.m. ET: Former WBA bantamweight champion Shannon Courtenay returned to action after 14 months out of the ring with an eight-round win over Gemma Ruegg. Courtenay's old rival Ebanie Bridges is in action in the chief support defending her IBF belt against Shannon O'Connell. If you think there was little love lost between those two, you might want to check out how Bridges and fellow Australian Shannon O'Connell have been getting on.

7:30 p.m. GMT/2:30 p.m. ET: Super-welterweight prospect Junaid Boston moved to 4-0 on the undercard a produced the punch of the night so far, stopping Athanasios Glynos in the fifth.

7:15 p.m. GMT/2:15 p.m. ET: The bulk of tonight's undercard is already complete. We've got full results at the bottom of this blog and will run through some of the highlights shortly. But the order of business right now at the First Direct Arena is England vs France in the World Cup quarterfinals. Some fans have been in here since 2pm watching the boxing and are now enjoying the action on the arena screens. Well, enjoying might be the wrong word, given Aurelien Tchouameni has just punctured the atmosphere.

7:00 p.m. GMT/2:00 p.m. ET: Hello and welcome to The Sporting News' coverage of a world championship fight night with a difference in Leeds.

The bulk of the undercard action for Josh Warrington's IBF featherweight title defence against Luis Alberto Lopez took place earlier in the afternoon, and we're now set for an interval while England take on France in the FIFA World Cup. The action from Qatar will be beamed on the big screens here, before the boxing resumes in around two hours' time. 

MORE: Josh Warrington vs. Luis Alberto Lopez: What’s next for The Leeds Warrior if he wins

What time is Josh Warrington vs. Luis Alberto Lopez? 

  • Date: Saturday, December 10 (GMT, ET) | December 11 (AEDT)
  • Start time: 4 p.m. ET | 9 p.m. GMT | 8 a.m. AEDT (approx)
  • Main event: 5:30 p.m. ET | 10:30 p.m. GMT | 9:30 a.m. AEDT (approx.)

Warrington vs. Lopez takes place on December 3. The main card is set to begin around 4 p.m. ET | 9 p.m. GMT | 8 a.m. AEDT, although this start time will hinge upon when the England vs France FIFA World Cup quarter-final ends.

The IBF featherweight champion Warrington is set to make his way to the ring around 5:30 p.m. ET | 10:30 p.m. GMT | 9:30 a.m. AEDT (approx.), depending on how long the undercard and, of course, the football lasts.

How to watch Josh Warrington vs. Luis Alberto Lopez

Warrington vs. Lopez, plus undercard action, will be broadcast by DAZN in more than 200 countries around the world. The fight is only available via streaming. 

Country

Date

Live Stream

United Kingdom

Saturday, Dec. 10

DAZN

USA

Saturday, Dec. 10

DAZN

This fight card faces the unique situation of an interval, while the FIFA World Cup game between England and France takes place, with the football action from Qatar being beamed onto the big screens in the arena. 

The portion of the card before the break will be available for free via Matchroom Boxing's YouTube channel. 

Josh Warrington vs. Luis Alberto Lopez PPV price: How much does the card cost? 

The Warrington vs. Lopez fight costs £7.99 via DAZN, or $19.99 in the US.

That pays for a monthly subscription giving access to a wealth of DAZN content including interviews and features.

Subscribers can cancel at any time, while an annual subscription saves money for viewers in the US and costs $149.99.

Josh Warrington vs. Luis Alberto Lopez fight card

  • Josh Warrington vs. Luis Alberto Lopez (IBF world featherweight title)
  • Ebanie Bridges bt. Shannon O'Connell  - TKO 8 to retain IBF women's world bantamweight title.
  • Felix Cash bt. Celso Neves - PTS 8 (middleweight)
  • James Metcalf bt. Courtney Pennington - TKO 7 to retain WBA continental super-welterweight title
  • Hopey Price bt. Sofiane Takoucht - PTS 8 (super-bantamweight)
  • Shannon Courtenay bt. Gemma Ruegg - PTS 8 (super-bantamweight)
  • Junaid Bostan bt. Athanasios Glynos - KO 5(super-welterweight)
  • Rhiannon Dixon bt. Kristine Shergold - PTS 8(lightweight)
  • Cory O'Regan bt. Antonio Rodriguez - TKO 4 (lightweight)
  • Koby McNamara bt. Nabil Ahmed - PTS 4 (bantamweight)

WATCH: Join DAZN to see Warrington vs. Lopez

Dom Farrell

Dom Farrell Photo

Dom is the senior content producer for Sporting News UK. He previously worked as fan brands editor for Manchester City at Reach Plc. Prior to that, he built more than a decade of experience in the sports journalism industry, primarily for the Stats Perform and Press Association news agencies. Dom has covered major football events on location, including the entirety of Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup in Paris and St Petersburg respectively, along with numerous high-profile Premier League, Champions League and England international matches. Cricket and boxing are his other major sporting passions and he has covered the likes of Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury, Wladimir Klitschko, Gennadiy Golovkin and Vasyl Lomachenko live from ringside.