Juan Manuel Lopez and Bernabe Concepcion gave us six of the best and most exciting minutes of boxing in 2010, with Lopez retaining his WBO featherweight belt via second round stoppage against the Filipino challenger.
Lopez (29-0, 26 KO) put Concepcion down in the first round, and had already badly hurt him before then. But while Lopez was throwing big, heavy shots throughout the first round, he was decked himself by a sudden hard left hook from Concepcion near the bell of the first round.
Nearly right off the bat in the second, Lopez put Concepcion (28-4-1, 15 KO) down with a straight left hand, and near the end of the round, finished him off. With Concepcion down once more, and this time badly hurt, the fight was stopped.
It was a hell of a fun six minutes to say the least, and those who missed it are encouraged to check out a replay.
Now, Lopez moves on to a September 18 date with Rafael Marquez, the biggest fight of Lopez's career. I love the fight on paper and think that for as long as it lasts (and it might not get past a couple rounds, either), it'll be great fun. It's also a wonderful alternative to Golden Boy's Shane Mosley-Sergio Mora PPV that night, so we can all thank Showtime for giving us something better that won't cost $50.
In the co-feature, Nonito Donaire fought four rounds as a southpaw against overmatched, undersized Hernan Marquez, and then went back to orthodox to toy with the unprepared 21-year-old Mexican until stopping him at the end of the eighth round. Donaire will move up to bantamweight in his next fight and hopefully will stop fighting guys who offer him no challenge.