In what could have been his toughest test yet, Najee Lopez passed with flying colors.
Lopez, a 25-year-old light heavyweight prospect, scored a sixth-round technical knockout of former title challenger Lenin Castillo on Friday at ProBox TV Events Center in Plant City, Florida.
The fight was waved off at 2:36 in the sixth of the scheduled 10-rounder, as Castillo’s corner stepped onto the apron to spare their fighter from further damage.
Lopez, 13-0 (10 KOs), scored the fight’s only knockdown midway through the sixth, as an overhand right followed by a right uppercut – which incidentally landed following Castillo popping up after his knee had already hit the canvas. Castillo, who dropped to 25-7-1 (19 KOs), beat the count but was unable to fight back effectively, forcing the stoppage.
Lopez, who has fought all but one of his pro fights in Plant City, got off to a hot start, using his busy jab to set up punches on the softer midsection of Castillo, 36, from Miami by way of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Castillo became more aggressive in the second round but had a hard time getting past the stinging jab of his opponent. Castillo tried to offer back a smile as he pressed forward behind a high guard, but that didn’t dissuade Lopez, who began to target the tall-standing Castillo with overhand rights. Lopez showed in the fourth round that he could also get work done on the back foot, walking Castillo into a counter uppercut, which concealed a left hook to the body that caused Castillo obvious discomfort.
Sensing that the fight was slipping away, Castillo began to make his move in the fifth round, pressuring Lopez but walking into power shots as a result, including an eye-catching left hook and a right hand that knocked his head back.
Castillo appeared to be in some pain after the fifth round, spitting out his mouthpiece and signaling that his jaw might have been hurt.
The loss is the third in four fights for Castillo, and second by stoppage, following a 2021 second-round stoppage loss to Callum Smith. Prior to that, Castillo lost a unanimous decision to Dmitry Bivol for the WBA light heavyweight title in 2019.
Lopez has now won two straight by stoppage after winning a pair of fights by decision.
Ryan Songalia is a reporter and editor for BoxingScene.com and has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler, The Guardian, Vice and The Ring magazine. He holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @ryansongalia.
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