In the most important fight of his career, and what may be considered by many as a candidate for fight of the year, Juan Manuel Lopez retained his WBO featherweight title with a technical knockout over Rafael Marquez live on SHOWTIME® from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. In the evening’s co-feature veteran boxer Glen Johnson earned the final spot in the Super Six World Boxing Classic Semifinals with a knockout win over Allan Green.

On Saturday night Lopez made the eighth successful defense of his 126-pound title since 2008, with all but one of his wins coming by way of knockout.

Lopez (30-0, 27 KOs), who remained undefeated, stunned Marquez (39-6, 35 KOs) in the third round which only seemed to ignite a fire in Marquez who finished the round with a furious combination.

Lopez seemed to be pushing the head of Marquez down periodically. After multiple warnings referee Tony Weeks took one point from the champion in the fourth.

In the seventh after a heated exchange of speed and power, Lopez broke though and hurt Marquez.

In the eighth round it became apparent that Marquez’s right hand was not as effective as it once had been. Marquez refused to answer the bell for the ninth citing a right shoulder injury.

In his corner, Marquez was heard saying, “I can’t move it. I can’t move it… I just can’t go.”

Lopez fell to his knees in the center of ring overcome with elation and pride.

After the fight Marquez said “I was hurt before I came into this fight but I didn’t want to postpone it again. “ He continued, “In the third round I couldn’t even throw punches anymore.”

Lopez had nothing but praise for Marquez after the fight. “He’s a world champion. When you get him hurt he is going to come right back after you.”

Saturday night was monumental for Lopez as he established himself among boxing’s elite beating one of boxing’s best. “We showed we are both strong guys. He is a real champion. We enjoyed fighting each other so why not do it again?”

Johnson, the elder of the two by a decade, didn’t allow age to be a factor Saturday night, coming out of the gate looking the sharper of the two. The 31-year old Green battled through the first few rounds as Johnson went to the body often and used his experience to wear Green down.

In the last few seconds of the third round Johnson stunned Green with a powerful uppercut causing Green to stumble to his corner at the sound of the bell. The two fighters continued to exchange at the opening of the fourth with Green regaining his composure and scoring on the judges’ cards.

Green, who appeared to be leaning in all night, was knocked down to the canvas with a shot that looked dangerously close to the back of the head. He was counted out by referee Robert Byrd at 2:24 of the 8th round. At the time of the knockout Green was ahead on two of the three judges scorecards (67-66, 67-66, 65-68).

“He’d been leaning that way all night,” said Johnson. “I wanted to get close enough to land those punches. I was patient and eventually I did just that.”

The knockout earned Johnson three points on the Super Six World Boxing Classic scoreboard and the final spot in the Semifinals. Johnson is tied with Arthur Abraham in second place for the moment but the last points-based Group Stage bout pits Abraham against Carl Froch on Saturday, Nov. 27 on SHOWTIME. After that the Semifinal matchups will be set.

“It’s so gratifying to win,” Johnson continued. “I have dedicated a lot of time to this business and I have had my ups and downs in boxing. But I never quit and I worked for this opportunity. I intend to make the most of it.

“I feel great at this weight. It was a lot easier to get down than I thought. And age has nothing to do with anything. I may fight into my 60’s.”

“I want to say that I love Allan Green like a brother. He has a great heart. He is a great human being. My only regret tonight is that we can’t both continue in the Super Six tournament. We competed tonight and we left it in the ring.