Sandor Martin Says He ‘Clearly’ Beat Teofimo Lopez

Sandor Martin knows he beat Teofimo Lopez.

Martin stepped up on short notice to face Lopez on Saturday night and many expected Lopez to win rather easily. Yet, the fight was competitive and when the final bell rang, many thought Martin would get his hand raised, but that wasn’t the case.

Instead, the judges scored the fight 95-94 for Martin, 96-93 for Lopez and 97-92 for Lopez. With that, Martin is disappointed as he believes the ref didn’t count a knockdown which could’ve won him the fight.

“It was a surprise with the judges. I won this fight clearly,” Martin said after the loss. “For one judge, I only won two rounds? Really? There were two knockdowns. The referee didn’t count one of the knockdowns. [Lopez] missed all of his punches. That’s a masterclass of boxing. That’s a robbery. But that’s the sport of boxing.

“In the ring, I controlled all the action. The timing,” Martin continued. “The moments. In the ring, controlled everything with my will. Teofimo was overanxious. In the eighth round, his corner told him, ‘Hey, let’s do it. You could lose this fight.’ [And] it wasn’t just the broken nose. I only had three weeks of preparation. The broken nose was from an accidental headbutt. But I didn’t worry about this. But I knew that it would hurt every time he punched me there.  But he didn’t punch me. Every time he punched me, I said ‘Ow.’ But he touched me three times? Four times, maximum? Really? You win with this?”

With the loss, Sandor Martin dropped to 40-3 and had his 11-fight losing streak snapped. Prior to the loss, he had beaten the likes of Jose Felix Jr., Mikey Garcia, and Joe Hughes among others. He’s also the former European super-lightweight champion.

Do you think Sandor Martin beat Teofimo Lopez?