Terence Crawford may have been the only fighter to walk out of Madison Square Garden as a world champion, but several boxers on the main card moved one step closer to challenging for a title.
Before Crawford retained his WBO welterweight title against Amir Khan with a low blow TKO in the main event of a Top Rank on ESPN pay-per-view event, Teofimo Lopez stole the show with another big knockout win. Lopez got his 11th knockout win in 13 career wins by taking out two-time European lightweight champion Edis Tatli.
Lopez scored a right hand to Tatli's body that sent him down to the canvas. With Tatli unable to get back up by the time the referee counted to 10. Lopez continues his climb up the lightweight rankings and after the fight, Lopez said he wants to fight next in June at Madison Square Garden for a world title.
Another fighter that benefited from a big performance at the New York venue was Shakur Stevenson, who had no trouble dispatching former super featherweight title challenger Christopher Diaz. Stevenson overpowered Diaz and landed combination after combination all fight long, winning a 10-round decision (100-90, 99-91, 98-92). The win potentially puts Stevenson in the featherweight title picture and the unbeaten boxer told Fightful in a media scrum days before the fight that he wants to face either IBF champion Josh Warrington or WBO champion Oscar Valdez.
The opening fight of the main card saw Puerto Rican star Felix Verdejo avenge his first pro defeat at Madison Square Garden last year by soundly defeating former world title challenger Bryan Vasquez. Verdejo won the mostly one-sided bout by unanimous decision (98-92, 97-93, 97-93) to win his second consecutive fight. The win catapults Verdejo into contender status as he will now focus on challenging for a lightweight world title.
The full results of the card can be read on Fightful's live coverage of the event, which can be read at this link.
