Juan Manuel Lopez vs. Bernabe Concepcion Fight Card Preview
When Juan Manuel Lopez stopped Steven Luevano in the seventh round at Madison Square Garden on January 23, he did more than just earn the WBO featherweight title. He also reinforced that he belongs in the discussion of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world. Lopez (28-0, 25 KOs) had already established his credentials within the sport after winning the WBO super bantamweight title and successfully defending it five times before moving up in weight class.
Lopez could have chosen an easy opponent for his first title defence at featherweight. Instead, his opponent on Saturday night in San Juan, Puerto Rico will be a top-10 featherweight in Pilipino challenger Bernabe Concepcion (28-3-1, 15 KOs). The two fighters share at least one thing in common in Luevano, and that's not necessarily a good thing for Concepcion. While Lopez stopped Luevano in his fight, Concepcion had a rather different ending to his challenge for the WBO featherweight title last August. Luevano appeared to be winning the fight comfortably when he was hit well after the end of the seventh round by Concepcion, who was automatically disqualified by referee Jay Nady.
At first glance, it would be easy to dismiss Concepcion as someone a step below Lopez. Certainly, in the past he's appeared to be lacking in the overall ability that Lopez possesses. However, there is one wild card in the fight that cannot be overlooked – Concepcion started working with top trainer Freddie Roach following his loss to Luevano. The improvement showed in his last fight, a 10-round unanimous decision over Mario Santiago on February 13. Concepcion showed more boxing skills against Santiago, adding the ability to pot shot Santiago and quickly get out of harm's way.
He'll need that ability to compete against Lopez. He's risen to the top of the sport by having a unique blend of power and boxing ability. In fact, the only real knock against Lopez is that he is prone to lapses in attention, seemingly coasting through fights if he isn't properly motivated. This was most prominent in his final title defence at super bantamweight against the lightly regarded Rogers Mtagwa in October 2009. Despite having 12 losses coming into the fight, Mtagwa gave Lopez as much as he could handle, hurting him several times in the late rounds before dropping a closer-than-expected decision.
The card has the unique attraction of having two of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world boxing in separate bouts. The co-headlining fight features Nonito Donaire (23-1, 15 KOs), who will be defending his interim WBA super flyweight championship against Hernan Marquez (27-1, 20 KOs). Donaire burst into the elite level of boxers in July 2007 when he upset Vic Darchinyan for the IBF flyweight title. He successfully defended that title three times before stepping up to super flyweight in August 2009 to claim the interim super flyweight title against Rafael Concepcion with a unanimous decision victory.
The fact that he is taking on Marquez is something of a surprise. Marquez was considered to be an up-and-coming prospect before he carried his undefeated record into his last bout against Richie Mepranum on March 12 in Texas. Marquez was stepping up in class to take on the veteran Mepranum and looked to be out of his class, failing to get anything going in dropping a lopsided 10-round unanimous decision. Donaire has had trouble finding a big name opponent who could create a money-making fight, and he certainly can't be pleased headlining the undercard of a fight in Puerto Rico against a weak opponent such as Marquez. While it's possible that Donaire could overlooked the powerful Marquez, it's more likely that he'll be looking to take his frustrations out on the Mexican contender.
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