Commey pummelled out of IBF world title

• Posted on December 16, 2019December 16, 2019
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

Richard Commey lost his IBF Lightweight title in crushing and humiliating fashion, suffering a comprehensive second round beating at the hands of Teofimo Lopez at the Madison Square Garden in New York. 

The Ghanaian was floored a minute into the second round, before stumbling and regaining his composure but was then subjected to a flurry of punches that forced the referee to stop the fight and call time on his short reign as a world champion.

Commey had spoken about how he just could not fail and how much he was going to give everything to retain his title.

And in the opening round, he did back that up with some decent punches but it didn’t take long for Lopez, undefeated in 14 fights with 11 knockouts, to find target.

As both fighters squared off in the middle of the ring, the American caught Commey with a solid right punch that sent him to his knees and stumbling.

He managed to beat the count but Lopez had sensed blood and landed 31 out of 35 punches to finish off the Ghanaian.

Commey’s beating would lead to questions about the ability of Ghana’s recent boxing champions to hold on to their titles for long after Isaac Dogboe’s short reign as world champion too.

Lopez has now earned a shot at a unification bout against Vasyl Lomachenko but Commey – who has now lost three times in 30 fights – would have to pick himself up and look for another shot at the world title.

By Michael Oti Adjei