If you started your St. Patrick’s Day celebration early and missed Friday night’s ProBox main event, set aside time to watch the replay of Lopez vs Gallegos. The light heavyweight war earned an early entry in the 2026 Fight of the Year race.
Top 15-ranked Najee Lopez walked through fire and plenty of bombs from relentless Manuel Gallegos through eight blistering rounds at an unforgiving pace until Lopez finally stopped Gallegos to win a bloody battle for the WBA Continental Americas and WBO Latino Light Heavyweight titles at Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee, Florida.
It positions Lopez of Georgia (16-0, 13 KOs) for a potential title challenge as the belts shift among titleholders, with current world champion Dmitriy Bivol returning to action and regular titleholder David Benavidez seemingly moving up to the cruiserweight division for good. Well worth walking through the fire for Lopez.
“That just shows you I’m a true champion and I’m here to stay,” said Lopez of his win. “I’m willing to prove it every time I step in the ring.”
Lopez praised Gallegos of Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico (22-4-1, 19 KOs) for putting up such a hellacious fight. “He was the best version of himself possible. I fought a true champion tonight.
“I’m not going to lie. That ring was small, and he’s a big guy!
“He came to win, but I showed I was there to win, too. It came down to nutrition and willpower. We both had a game plan, But I had more will,” said Lopez.
“That’s a tough motherf– right there,” continued Lopez. “Soon as I had him on the hook, I wasn’t going to let him off. That was 100% of a test, and I feel like I passed it.”
Blood and Guts Showdown Between Lopez and Gallegos
It was a bloody good fight from the opening bell, literally. The pair went right at it from the opening bell. Lopez suffered a cut early from a headbutt deep over his right eye. His corner fought to keep the carnage to a bare minimum.
In the seventh round, Lopez was cut again, and Gallegos also suffered a cut of his own. It enters the Round of the Year discussion as Gallegos swing the momentum of the fight in his favor by landed a right hand to drop Lopez for a knockdown. Lopez got up and got through the round with his right eye damage threatening a stoppage.
Despite multiple checks on both men by referee Chris Young and the ringside physician, the pair carried on for one last round. Lopez gained some recovery time fighting behind the jab, then catching Gallegos with a bomb of a right hand. He was visibly hurt.
Lopez wasn’t going to let the opportunity get away from him. He unleashed everything he had left, forcing referee Young to finally step in and give him the victory at 2:41 of round eight.
“All I thought in there, I was thinking Diego Corrales, I was thinking Marvin Hagler, I was thinking championship shit,” explained Lopez. “As soon as I had him on the hook, I wasn’t going to let up.”
Lopez said it proves he has what it takes to be a champion and he’s willing to prove it in every fight.
Gallegos may have suffered his first loss, but he had Lopez in trouble multiple times, and his chin held up to high level incoming fire. He will be welcomed back by fans including many new ones who saw him for the first time on Friday.
Dominic Valle Squeaks By With Decision
Dominic Valle of Lutz, Florida (13-0, 7 KOs) won a controversial unanimous 10-round decision over Eduardo “Zurdito” Ramirez of Sinaloa, Mexico (29-6-3, 14 KOs) in the night’s 10-round super featherweight co-featured bout.
Ramirez outworked and overwhelmed the younger Valle over the first four rounds, battering Valle with both hands.
Ramirez landed a hook in round five that wobbled Valle. His undefeated record seemed in jeopardy. Valle rallied with his own offense to hold off a potential stoppage.
Later in the same round, Valle returned the favor against Ramirez with an uppercut and proceeded to batter him as payback throughout round six.
Ringside officials took a long look at Valle’s rapidly closing right eye to start round seven, but allowed the fight to continue. Valle went to the body of Ramirez, a smart approach keeping Ramirez from delivering his worst.
In the final round, Ramirez tried to get the win by stopping Valle, throwing two-handed combinations to Valle’s head and body. But it wasn’t enough.
The Florida judges scored the fight 98-92 twice and 96-94 for Valle. Fans and commentators grumbled at the result. Valle needs to take the lessons from the fight to heart as he moves forward.
Light heavyweight prospect Delvin McKinley of New Orleans (14-5-1, 13 KOs) won an upset majority, six-round decision over Christian “Il Bambino” Chessa of Lombardia, Italy (6-1, 6 KOs) in an entertaining fight with the result in question until the final seconds.
McKinley hurt Chessa with an uppercut in round two, creating a big swelling under his left eye and drawing blood from the nose.
Chessa got on the move and boxed to settle himself, fighing well through the middle rounds and finding shot landing to the body.
But McKinley unleashed aggressive power shots that impress judges, and with Chessa’s eye closing rapidly, he was able to slow him down and win the final rounds. On hearing the scores of 58-56 twice in his favor along with the 56-56 card, McKinley fell to his knees in gratitude, relief, and celebration.
Undefeated light heavyweight Dante Benjamin of Cleveland (14-0-1, 9 KOs) won an eight-round unanimous decision over formerly undefeated Angel Lozano of Pomona, California (8-1, 6 KOs).
The ProBox commentary team featured the debut of longtime Top Rank on-air talent Crystina Poncher alongside Chris Algieri and Paulie Malignaggi. Online comments from fans praised the team and here’s hoping they are here to stay.
Gayle Falkenthal is an award-winning boxing journalist and the only woman journalist who is a full voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA). She is the Managing Editor for NY Fights based in San Diego, California.