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HBO PPV Recap

The Dream Match: De La Hoya vs. Pacquiao

December 6, 2008

MGM Grand-Las Vegas, Nevada

WBO Junior Featherweight (122 pounds) 12-Round Championship Match:

Juan Manuel Lopez (23-0, 21 KO's, 122 pounds) (c) vs. Sergio Medina (33-1, 18 KO's, 122 pounds)

Lopez won this title in a dominating upset of Daniel Ponce de Leon. The resident of Caguas, Puerto Rico took the title from Ponce de Leon via technical knockout at 2:25 of round 1 on June 7, 2008 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Ponce de Leon had never been knocked down as a pro or amateur prior to his encounter with Lopez. A full recap of that match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2008/12/9/recap-of-juan-manuel-lopez-vs-daniel-ponce-de-leon.html Lopez is making his second defense of this title.

The champion had a good amateur boxing career that culminated when he represented Puerto Rico at 119 pounds during the 2004 Athens Summer Olympiad.

This event is being co-promoted by Bob Arum's Top Rank Promotions and Lopez is the boxer on this card they are looking to push as a future star. Lopez has incredible power and has stopped his last 4 opponents inside of 7 minutes.

Lopez' last match was a knockout victory at 47 seconds of round 1 over Cesar Figueroa on October 4, 2008 at Coliseo Jose Miguel Agrelot in Hato Rey, Puerto Rico. Lopez is The Ring's number 3 contender at 122 pounds to their championship in the weight class, Israel Vazquez. Medina had a good amateur boxing career where he qualified to represent Argentina at the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympiad. However, Medina did not want to spend the 3 weeks away from his family competing in Australia and declined the invitation to represent his country in the Olympics.

This is Medina's second match outside of Argentina. His first match outside of Argentina was as the opening televised match on the undercard of Floyd Mayweather, Jr. vs. De La Hoya on May 5, 2007 at the MGM Grand. Medina had the best match on the televised card that night in losing via 12-round unanimous decision to Rey Bautista. The boxers traded knockdowns in the match and both boxers were cut by headbutts in the wild brawl. However, it was clear that night that Bautista was the more skilled boxer. Medina may have had a chance, but his corner was giving him horrific advice that made it an easier match for Bautista. A full recap of that match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2008/12/9/recap-of-sergio-medina-vs-rey-bautista.html

Medina's last match was a technical knockout victory in round 11 over Jean Javier Sotelo on Estadio Delmi in Salta, Argentina. Medina knocked down Sotelo in round 7 and 11 on the way to earning the stoppage.

Medina is unranked by The Ring, and the number 50 ranked boxer in the world at 122 pounds by boxrec.com.

At 25-years-old, Lopez is 1 year younger then the 26-year-old Medina. Lopez has the height advantage standing 5' 7" tall, while Medina stands 5' 6" tall. Medina has the reach advantage with a 22.5" arm length, compared to the 21.5" arm length of Lopez. The Argentine will have a huge weight advantage in the ring having unofficially rehydrated since the official weigh-ins to 138 pounds. That is an unhealthy weight gain for a boxer at 122 pounds. Medina may have severe stamina problems from cutting that much weight. Lopez has unofficially rehydrated to 129 pounds approaching match time. The champion will employ the southpaw stance and the challenger will employ the orthodox stance.

Before the introductions the ring bell is struck 10-times in honor of the late referee Toby Gibson who passed away this week. All of the referees are wearing black armbands this weekend.

The disgrace that is open scoring will be used in this match. All of the official judges keeping score of this match are from Nevada. The referee is Joe Cortez.

Medina decided to open the match by standing against the ropes with his gloves up and letting the champion punch him. This resulted in Medina getting dropped to the canvas by a left hand 38 seconds into round 1. Medina successfully answers the referee's count with 2:08 to go in the round, but looks in real bad shape. It appeared the wind from a Lopez combination scared Medina into taking a knee in the corner with still 2:00 to go in round 1. The referee should probably stop it here. Medina clearly wants no part of Lopez. The Argentine easily answers the referee's count, because he was not hit to cause the knockdown, and is allowed to continue with 1:48 to go in the round. Medina is in decent shape, but appears to have no chance to last out this round. A right hook to the head sends Medina down for the third time with still 1:27 to go in round 1. The referee waves off the match this time. Lopez did not appear to land a good punch in putting Medina down 3-times. The crowd boos this finish. This time they are not mad at the referee, but at Medina for his apparent lack of desire to compete. It did not appear that Medina landed or even threw a punch in the entire match.

The final outcome from Michael Buffer is that: the referee has called a stop to this contest at 1:38 of round 1 making the winner by technical knockout, still undefeated, and still the WBO Junior Featherweight Champion of the World, Juan Manuel "Juanma" Lopez. The win moves Lopez to 24-0 with now 22 of those wins coming by way of knockout.

The final punchstat numbers have Lopez landing 9 of the 37 total punches he threw, for a 24% total connect percentage. Medina landed an embarrassing 1 of the pitiful 6 total punches he threw, for a 17% total connect percentage.

This is Lopez' twelfth straight knockout and third straight first round knockout. He cannot be asked to be any more dominant. However, this win did not prove very much. Lopez may not have landed a solid power punch the entire match. On the second knockdown, Lopez did not actually land a punch. Medina just took a knee, based on the force of the Lopez' missed punches. Lopez will probably face a top 10 opponent at 122 pounds in his next match.

Medina probably did not throw this match. However, if a boxer wastaking adive it is hard to imagine it looking much worse then this. Medina was not hit solidly on any of the knockdowns and not at all to cause the second knockdown. This is possibly the worst performance in a match that has been shown on television, let alone PPV in years. Medina continued to make all of the mistakes he made against Bautista in laying against the ropes passively, except this time he appeared to be scared to be in the ring. The huge weight cut would indicate that Medina showed up to the match out of shape. Medina will probably never box outside of Argentina, again. If Medina shows the type of fear he showed in this match in his next match, he will never box again. Medina acted like some jobber in pro-wrestling who is sent out to get destroyed by Big Show in 30 seconds and decides to run after the first chop. It is nearly impossible to describe in words how miserable Medina's performance was in this match.

The undercard matches on this PPV were awful.