AREQUIPA, Peru – The Cuban Arlen López defeated the Russian Nikita Zon this Saturday (9 wins and one draw), at the Night of Champions Gala in Dubai. With this victory, the two-time Olympic champion of the Island retained his title as professional IBA World Champion in the 80 kg.
As reported the sports environment HITin the tenth round of the fight López sent his opponent to the canvas about three times to declare the knockout.
In this way, the Cuban boxer won “a fight that had become complicated for him after the second act and maintained the title won on August 27 in a similar fight based at the Coliseum of Havana’s Ciudad Deportiva,” the media notes.
“We knew that he was a difficult opponent, with a lot of experience in the professional circuits, and the indication was that he not lose concentration and maintain boxing as stable as possible (…) The objective was that he would not fall into the ‘game’ of the rival and the job was done,” the boxer’s trainer, Víctor Sánchez, told JIT.
Likewise, this represents the fifth victory without setbacks for Arlen López, who had defeated the Dominican Luis Antonio Tejeda for the World title in Havana and previously the Mexicans Fernando Galván (May 2022 in Aguascalientes), Francisco Ríos (September 2022 in Baja California) and Marco Reyes (May 2024, Aguascalientes).
At the beginning of last August, López was left in bronze during the Olympic Games held in Paris and thus opened the medal table for those from the Island.
Then, the boxer fell in a close fight against the Ukrainian Oleksandr Khyzhniak and was unable to seek his third Olympic gold.
After winning the first round, the two-time Olympic champion fell 2-3 in the second and 0-5 in the third against a Ukrainian boxer who did not stop throwing punches.
