Teofimo Lopez subjected to boos after controversial win against Jamaine Ortiz

Teofimo Lopez was subjected to boos after his win over Jamaine Ortiz on Thursday, with fans in Las Vegas expressing their discontent at the controversial decision.

The outspoken Lopez, 26, was a unanimous-decision victor (115-113, 115-113, 117-111) against fellow American Ortiz, 27. With the result, Lopez retained the WBO super-lightweight title.

Lopez won the belt from Scotland’s Josh Taylor with a widely lauded performance in June, but he struggled to reach that level on Thursday.

However, Lopez placed the blame on Ortiz after the fight, saying: “I tried my best for the people. I even tried to box going backwards, and he didn’t want to commit. We cannot for one second claim these people, these fighters that don’t wanna come and fight, [are real fighters]. If you ain’t ready for this life, get the f*** out of my sport.

“I’m gonna be real with you guys, [my performance was] 10/10. I did everything that I could do, I hit him with the shots I needed to hit him with. I was waiting for him to do his thing, and he didn’t wanna compete.”

Ortiz fired back: “I stuck to the gameplan, I listened to my corner, my team. I thought I was winning. I think I won the fight. What can I say? He couldn’t hit me, I was making him miss all night. 117-111 is just ridiculous.”

Lopez also reiterated his callout of unified welterweight champion Terence Crawford, saying: “Glory is next for me. None of these guys want to fight me. I’ll fight Crawford at a catchweight. I’m here, I’m ready, I’ve always been ready.”

Lopez won the unified lightweight titles with a decision victory over Vasiliy Lomachenko in 2020, before losing them in his next fight – a points loss to George Kambosos Jr in 2021.

He then moved up to super-lightweight in 2022, stopping Pedro Campa and winning a controversial decision against Sandor Martin.

Those bouts set up Lopez for his clash with Taylor, in which the American became a two-weight world champion.