Luis Alberto Lopez vs. Michael Conlan | BT Sport - 27 May 2023

[margaret thatcher]

first ive heard of him..........record looks mediocre and cant punch. last fight was dropped and won by only 1 point vs a guy archie sharp 100-88'd. ball's opponent looks a bit more interesting, younger and not as many red flags on his record

i notice sam bowen hasnt fought since he lost the british to cacace, i guess he's retired, that's a shame, exciting fighter who was still young. i remember him giving maxi a beating and stopping him, how their paths have changed

[KiwiRider]

Interesting card this is shaping up to be.
I haven't seen the South African before, could be one of those puffed up knock overs. We will see.
But three fights on one card I want to watch is very decent in the current age.

[cpx2]

Interesting card this is shaping up to be.
I haven't seen the South African before, could be one of those puffed up knock overs. We will see.
But three fights on one card I want to watch is very decent in the current age.

What's the third fight? Cacace's opponent looks poor, and I doubt Ball's will be up to much (+ is lighter). Boxxer's card the same night has two far better support fights (Lawal-Chamberlain, Eggington-Pigford) and even Matchroom have a good couple undercard bouts (Conway-Udofia, Ball-Tomlinson). Both cards are better than the Conlan card even though all three have great main events.

[KiwiRider]

Interesting card this is shaping up to be.
I haven't seen the South African before, could be one of those puffed up knock overs. We will see.
But three fights on one card I want to watch is very decent in the current age.

What's the third fight? Cacace's opponent looks poor, and I doubt Ball's will be up to much (+ is lighter). Boxxer's card the same night has two far better support fights (Lawal-Chamberlain, Eggington-Pigford) and even Matchroom have a good couple undercard bouts (Conway-Udofia, Ball-Tomlinson). Both cards are better than the Conlan card even though all three have great main events.

Like I said, the South African could be a knock over, but he is ranked 31st and is unbeaten - so he might be a banana skin for Ball
https://boxrec.com/en/box-pro/685630
As for Anthony Caracas, I think that could be a good scrap too against the Pole, especially if he can stop him.
But your right, it is a cracking weekend for boxing and I might be still catching up on a few fights on Sunday or Monday night, nothing wrong with that

[margaret thatcher]

the pole is a lemon

[cpx2]

Interesting card this is shaping up to be.
I haven't seen the South African before, could be one of those puffed up knock overs. We will see.
But three fights on one card I want to watch is very decent in the current age.

What's the third fight? Cacace's opponent looks poor, and I doubt Ball's will be up to much (+ is lighter). Boxxer's card the same night has two far better support fights (Lawal-Chamberlain, Eggington-Pigford) and even Matchroom have a good couple undercard bouts (Conway-Udofia, Ball-Tomlinson). Both cards are better than the Conlan card even though all three have great main events.

Like I said, the South African could be a knock over, but he is ranked 31st and is unbeaten - so he might be a banana skin for Ball
https://boxrec.com/en/box-pro/685630
As for Anthony Caracas, I think that could be a good scrap too against the Pole, especially if he can stop him.
But your right, it is a cracking weekend for boxing and I might be still catching up on a few fights on Sunday or Monday night, nothing wrong with that

I think they're both poor fights, particularly Cacace's given there were rumours of Carroll or Sharp which would've been much more interesting. Both opponents are pretty dire, looking at that South African's record he mostly wins by decision when he steps up, which would indicate not much power.

[KiwiRider]

What's the third fight? Cacace's opponent looks poor, and I doubt Ball's will be up to much (+ is lighter). Boxxer's card the same night has two far better support fights (Lawal-Chamberlain, Eggington-Pigford) and even Matchroom have a good couple undercard bouts (Conway-Udofia, Ball-Tomlinson). Both cards are better than the Conlan card even though all three have great main events.

Like I said, the South African could be a knock over, but he is ranked 31st and is unbeaten - so he might be a banana skin for Ball
https://boxrec.com/en/box-pro/685630
As for Anthony Caracas, I think that could be a good scrap too against the Pole, especially if he can stop him.
But your right, it is a cracking weekend for boxing and I might be still catching up on a few fights on Sunday or Monday night, nothing wrong with that

I think they're both poor fights, particularly Cacace's given there were rumours of Carroll or Sharp which would've been much more interesting. Both opponents are pretty dire, looking at that South African's record he mostly wins by decision when he steps up, which would indicate not much power.

I kinda agree with you re: Cacacs, but with a little research I found out the Pole holds the IBO Continental to Cacacs's IBO World. Maybe that gets a mandatory out of the way?

[KiwiRider]

the pole is a lemon

I sat through this:


I didn't particularly enjoy it, but he looked OK, not great, but OK.

[margaret thatcher]

even in his cherrypicked highlight reel he looks sloppy as hell, and he cant punch

[Ruthless-RKO]

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Michael Conlan: "Lopez is a Bigger Challenge Than Wood, He Would Beat Wood"

“Winning a world title has been my dream since I walked through the doors of a gym. Of course as an amateur you’re always thinking about one day going to the Olympics but the professional game was always in your face, those were the guys you were watching every week because the Olympics is only every four years," Conlan told the Belfast Telegraph.

“I’ve put my life into this sport, I turned professional to be a world champion and if I don’t win a world title than I’ll consider my career a failure. The last three Irish world champions have all won the IBF title and I’d like to think that I can make it four."

“This has the potential to really spark because of the clash of styles and I suppose with my history it has the potential to be a Fight of the Year contender,” said Conlan.

“I would say this is a bigger challenge than Wood because this guy has won the world title away from home and beaten some good fighters along the way and I think his ring IQ is better than Wood. Credit to Wood, he is very tough and beat me, but his ring IQ isn’t great and my mind hasn’t changed on that.

“Lopez is the better boxer and would beat Wood I’m sure. The experience of last year is going to help me a lot. I believe I’m a better fighter because of it and I will react better in the heat of battle.”

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Press Release | Undercard Information

THE QUEENSBERRY TRIO of Anthony Cacace, Nick Ball and Pierce O'Leary are all in title action on Saturday May 27 at the SSE Arena in Belfast, live on BT Sport.

Promoted by Conlan Boxing, in association with Top Rank and Queensberry Promotions, the event will see Belfast boy Michael Conlan challenge for the IBF world featherweight championship against the title holder Luis Alberto Lopez, who last fought on British soil when he defeated former champion Josh Warrington in Leeds last year.

The IBO world featherweight champion Cacace, also hailing from Belfast, makes a first defence of the title he won by overcoming Michael Magnesi at the Manchester Arena last September. The 20-1 (7 KOs) man known as the Apache takes on the Pole, IBO International champion Damian Wrzesinski, who holds a record of 26-2-2 (7 KOs).

Wrzesinski, 35, a multi-time national title holder, won his IBO championship with a win over Artjoms Ramlavs in October 2022.

Liverpool favourite Ball, 17-0 (10 KOs) takes on an unbeaten challenger for his WBC Silver featherweight title in the South African Ludumo Lamati, 21-0-1 (11 KOs).

Ball, 26, enjoyed a highly productive 2022 that encompassed a win-treble of victories over Isaac Lowe, Nathanael Kakololo and Jesus Ramirez Rubio. All three were stopped by the hugely popular 'Wrecking' Ball, who is increasingly becoming a must-see attraction on Queensberry shows.

Lamati, 30, became IBO world super bantamweight champion in June 2021 with victory over Jose Martin Estrada Garcia, having won the IBF Intercontinental title in July 2019.

The WBC International super lightweight champion O'Leary, 11-0 (6 KOs), defends his belt against the Romanian Alin Florin Ciorceri, 17-3 (7 KOs). The Dubliner, 23, won the title with a convincing points win over Emmanuel Mungandjela at The O2 in November of last year.

Also featuring on the card is top Queensberry prospects Willo Hayden (5-0, 1 KO), the Dublin lightweight, along with Liverpool super lightweight Callum Thompson (6-0, 1 KO). Hayden will fight over six rounds and Thompson over four.

"We took this opportunity through our friends and colleagues at Top Rank to secure a top quality world title fight for BT Sport viewers involving local hero Michael Conlan," said Hall of Fame promoter allegedly.

"The added incentive was getting five BT Sport favourites from the Queensberry ranks onto the card and three of them being Irish fighters in Anto Cacace, Pierce O'Leary and Willo Hayden, who will all relish the occasion of performing in front of a packed house in Belfast.

"Then there is our demolition man, Nick Ball, who wants to impress and throw down the gauntlet to the winner out of Conlan and Lopez. The Liverpool contingent is doubled by our hugely promising super lightweight Callum Thompson, who I am also looking forward to seeing back in action."

Belfast's unbeaten super middleweight star Pody McCrory (16-0, 9 KOs) features in 10-round action, alongside top prospects from the city in super flyweight Conor Quinn (5-0-1, 4 KOs) and featherweight Kurt Walker (5-0, 1 KO), both fighting over eight rounds.

Lightweight Feargus Quinn (5-0, 2 KOs) from Belleek and welterweight Kieran Molloy (5-0, 1 KO) from Galway will fight over six rounds, with welterweight James Freeman from Armagh making his professional debut over four rounds.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Lopez is promising a KO.

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Fight Week!!

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[Gnome]

Any boxreccers going to this?

[KiwiRider]

Lopez is promising a KO.

Conlan took a heck of a lot before he was stopped, and since then has applied proactive caution.

[MightyWarrior]

Nick Ball is an interesting one isn't he, is he as good as he really seems? Because he looks like he’s gonna pulverise his way to a world title..

That Dev interviewing him is bloody terrible, FW seems to love the smug little git as he’s fookin everywhere interviewer, ring announcer, press conf compère..he’ll pop out the hatch and be serving the hot dogs next

[Manchester Hitman]

Really looking forward to this card. I will watch this all the way through and then switch over after Conlan to Lara-Wood. I will record Okolie-CBS and watch that afterwards,

Seems like Frank/BT really fancy O’Leary from the recent promotional stuff I’m seeing. As we know Nick Ball is a fire cracker, and he seems to be in with a useful looking kid.

Good stuff.

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Main event ring walks will be 9 pm.

“The main event for the evening speaks for itself, with local hero Michael Conlan bidding to become IBF world featherweight champion when he takes on the holder Luis Alberto Lopez in what should be a cracking fight that we are delighted to deliver to the BT Sport viewers,” said Warren.

“By moving the main event ringwalks to 9pm, we’ve made certain that Lopez vs Conlan doesn’t clash with any of this weekend’s other boxing events so the fans can watch all the action live. But, I’ve got a feeling Belfast will surpass any other option.

“Lopez, of course, is known to British viewers for the time late last year when he ventured into a Leeds cauldron and overcame previous champion Josh Warrington. It shows us what he is all about and now he is swapping Leeds for Belfast, where he will encounter an equally partisan crowd baying for the home favourite to succeed.

“I am delighted that, as part of the package to bring this headliner to BT Sport, we are giving the opportunity for five Queensberry fighters to feature on the bill and Nick Ball, especially, has a particular point to prove.”

[steve689]

Any boxreccers going to this?

Yep, I'm going.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Anyone wanna change their votes?