On July 23, 1988, Rick Lockridge (43-5, 35 KOs), the super-featherweight IBF champion, defends his title against fellow American challenger, Tony Lopez (29-1, 22 KOs).
Rick Lockridge is coming in to the fight on a 5-fight win streak with a 72% KO rate; his last fight was a unanimous decision win over Harold Knight, 3 months and 21 days ago. Tony Lopez is on a 3-fight win streak with a 73% KO rate, with his last fight being a 3rd round TKO win over Tony Pep, 3 months and 28 days ago.
The winning odds are at 73.1-26.9 in favor of Rick Lockridge, but the win will not come easy. It is going to be a competitive fight and Tony Lopez will put on a really good performance, Lockridge will be required to be at his best.
Tony Lopez defeated Rocky Lockridge via unanimous decision and wins the IBF title — in his first world-title fight. Lopez improves his record to 30-1, while Lockridge adds a loss to his record at 43-6.