By Mario Ortega Jr.
Earlier this year, a new team boxing concept was launched that hoped to bring non-stop action from bell to bell. Team Combat League, the brainchild of promoter Ahmed Sheikh, featured six teams of about 24 fighters per team, spread over six weight classes, based across the United States. One of the budding young pugilists that shined over the course of the TCL’s inaugural season was featherweight Lizette Lopez of the Los Angeles Tengoose franchise.
Lopez, a 1-0 professional based out of the MXN Boxing Center in Salinas, California, was able to secure a tryout for the Los Angeles team, led by head coach Ricky Funez, through her co-head trainer Josh Sanchez. Heralded amateur Roxy Verduzco had already secured one of the female featherweight spots on the team, leaving only one more spot remaining.
“When it really came down to it, it ended up being about a week in advance and Coach Funez asked Coach Josh if I could go down there and spar,” recalls Lopez. “We took the opportunity and went and I sparred and I ended up taking the second spot.”
With that sparring session Lopez had made the team, which would base their training from the Tengoose Boxing Gym in Van Nuys, California, leaving the fighter from the Central Coast city of Salinas in a scramble to find housing in time for the start of the season. While most of the team were already based out of the Los Angeles area, Lopez would end up with a much longer commute than her teammates.
“I would stay in Chino Hills and have to commute an hour everyday,” remembers Lopez. “I have some close relatives that stay there and that was the only spot since it was so last minute. I want to say every Monday thru Friday we would train at about 11 am.”
Lopez’ willingness to make the sacrifice to commute in unforgiving Southern California traffic to get to and from the gym everyday was just the first example of her dedication to the sport that impressed coach Danny Gonzalez.
“It was a long, long trip for her to come,” explains Gonzalez, one of the two assistant coaches for Los Angeles, alongside Jonathan Walley. “I instantly read it from her at the beginning, and I told her from the get-go that she was going to do great. She just had to focus on a little bit of things. That was what we ended up doing, working together and putting in the little things that she did and she ended up being one of the best female fighters on that show.”
With less than two months between the time she found out she had made the team and the week one match-up against the New York City Attitude in Connecticut, Lopez had to quickly adjust to training in new surroundings, away from her home coaches for the first time, with new trainers with different styles and for the new format of fighting for just one, two-minute round.
“It was definitely an adjustment, but I think I did pretty well adjusting to it,” proclaims Lopez. “It helped that I did so well training with [the Los Angeles coaches,] so everything came so natural to me. I did [have to change my mindset going into this]. In training and sparring we did a lot of pressure work and high volume punching. So I think that really helped me throughout the competition.”
Over the course of the season, Lopez would fight a southpaw opponent seven times. One of the advantages she may have had was that her teammate and sparring partner, Roxy Verduzco, was herself a skilled southpaw.
“It was amazing that she had the experience to move around with “Right Hook” Roxy, because she has the experience from being an amateur fighter,” explains Gonzalez. “When I would see them in there going at it, they were both going at it back-and-forth, so it was tough competition. That is why I think our girls were really, really tough and hard to beat throughout the whole entire show. Their chemistry working together was really good. After that, [Lizette] honed in and really began showcasing her skills. She was dominating a lot of the southpaw fighters she had to fight, as well as some of the orthodox fighters she fought too. Working with “Right Hook” Roxy the whole camp really sharpened her up and added to her boxing skills, because she is a forward-pressure fighter. She likes digging to the body and ripping uppercuts and using head movement. Working with Roxy, she was helping her use her jab and cutting angles, so that was really good.”
In each week of competition, fights between each team would consist of 18 individual rounds, with each fighter competing one round at a time, once or twice throughout the night, depending on the fighter availability on each roster. The first week of action took place on March 29th at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut, the host venue for the entire regular season. In the first fight on the first night, Lopez would meet southpaw Nicole Ocasio of New York. It would be the first of three meetings they had in what would become the signature rivalry of the inaugural Team Combat League season.
Lopez and Ocasio had met before as young amateurs in the lead-up to the 2016 USA Boxing Junior National Championships in December of that year. “We had both traveled to Kansas City, Missouri and competed in that tournament for nationals,” recalls Lopez. “We ended up sparring each other, which is pretty cool that we ended up coming back into each other’s lives all this time later.”
Without any examples to watch before their meeting, Lopez and Ocasio functioned as the guinea pigs for the entire season and set the tone for what was to come by opting for an offensive-minded fight for the two-minute duration of their opening bout.
“I was just going to go out there and try my best to box and fight my fight and fight smart and also just throw a lot, which is like the whole concept of the show I believe,” says Lopez. “I felt pretty good actually. I felt my performance was really good and I knew that I was only going to get better from there.”
Though her team would end up losing to New York City by one point, Lopez held up her end by winning that opening round. Lopez gave Ocasio more movement and her conditioning held up a little better in the last half minute to seal a decision win in an entertaining contest. After each night of fights, the Los Angeles Tengoose team would fly back together to California and return to training before the next fight night would bring them back across country to Connecticut.
In her next time out on April 13th, Lopez would meet one of her tougher adversaries for the first time in experienced pro Jennifer Miranda of the Dallas Enforcers. Miranda had already fought the ten-round distance twice and captured a WBA regional belt in Spain. For two minutes, Miranda was able to find success boxing and moving and tying up the shorter Lopez when she found her way in range.
“I did find it a little bit challenging, fighting somebody like her,” admits Lopez. “Obviously, I was going to have to close the distance more and get inside more. She was kind of trying to hit and move, stick and move. So it was a little bit harder for me. I feel like towards the end, I started getting in closer and she would start clinching more. I just tried my best.”
Lopez would be back in the ring on May 4th, fighting twice in one night for the first time of the competition. The first bout paired her against the tough Tyriesha Douglas of the DC Destroyers. The muscularly-built southpaw Douglas entered as a fifteen-fight pro and former WIBA champion and started out the round strong. Much like in her first bout with Ocasio, Lopez’ conditioning made the difference as she came on in the last 45 seconds, this time with clean head shots, while Douglas tried to clinch to run out the time. Two of the three judges ringside scored the split decision for Lopez.
In the second of her fights that night, Lopez took on Dupe Akinola, who had fought in the first overall round of the match, while the win over Douglas took place in the seventh round. Akinola got off to a strong start, in what was the 13th overall round between LA and DC. After getting knocked off balance with one shot early in the round, Lopez came on late as Akinola’s output slowed, but the late rally failed to sway the judges as the DC fighter earned the unanimous nod.
Fighting two rounds with a break in between each round was something of an adjustment for the fighters in the competition. In boxing, maintaining adrenaline and staying warmed up is part of the routine when it comes to a fight. However, in this format there are some new challenges the fighters deal with when fighting multiple rounds.
“I had been warming up for like a while and then we go and we sit down,” explains Lopez of the process. “I think I just needed to focus a bit more. I like being first and getting it out of the way. But I didn’t mind fighting later either. I like fighting twice and I like fighting once, either or. As long as I get to fight.”
On May 18th, Lopez and Ocasio would engage in a two-minute war that would earn the two fighters great public acclaim and eventually the TCL’s Ali-Frazier Fight of the Year Award. In the type of fight promoter Ahmed Sheikh likely envisioned when he formatted the league, Lopez and Ocasio went all out on offense from the first bell to the last. Play-by-play announcer Ray Torres proclaimed the bout round of the year during the broadcast before it even had ended. Lopez scored the most telling blow when a right hand moved Ocasio back and again the Salinas fighter proved to have the conditioning edge down the stretch en route to the thrilling decision win.
“I just kind of went in there and wanted to stick-and-move, basically, just get in and get out,” states Lopez of the original gameplan. “But then we just threw. The bell rang and we just started throwing. I think my conditioning just held up more. That is how the round went and we won an award for that. Shout out to Nicole again. It takes two to tango, so I am proud that I got to share the ring with her.”
With the two minutes of war that took place the week prior fresh in her mind, Lopez entered her opening bout with the Las Vegas Hustle’s Florencia Britos with a different game plan in place on May 25th. The southpaw Britos boxed well, with one head-snapping right hook probably sealing the round in her favor. Attempting to brawl less and box with a more measured pace ended up working against Lopez.
“I think the week before was in my head,” admits Lopez. “I should have applied more pressure and threw more with Florencia. I think I could have definitely beat her. She chose her punches really well and knew how to move out of the way. I think that would be a great fight [down the road].”
In the tenth round of the match-up against Las Vegas, Lopez returned to her aggressive style against veteran Deanha Hobbs. Lopez utilized her come forward style and landed clean with both hands, while Hobbs attempted to box while backing up. After two minutes, Lopez had rebounded with a unanimous decision.
The next night of fights saw Lopez open the show with a clear-cut victory over Leanne Calderon of the Dallas Enforcers, before a rematch ten rounds later against the tall and rangy Jennifer Miranda on June 2nd. Miranda, who did not fight earlier in the night, stuck to her style of boxing at range and clinching whenever Lopez found her way in close. This time however, Lopez made it a closer fight, landing well with some head shots before Miranda was able to lock her up. The one-round decision went Miranda’s way by split verdict.
“Lizette really did good in that fight, but since Miranda was potshotting and moving back, and grabbing into a clinch, it was difficult for her,” recalls Coach Gonzalez. “But she was slowly applying that pressure and getting more into her gamestyle, so with that type of fighter, like a Miranda, she would have slowly broke her down in maybe the third or fourth round, and slowly found the opportunity to finish her off [in a traditional bout.]. She was cutting off her angles and setting herself up so she could pin her up on the ropes, but that girl Miranda was awkward for everybody.”
In the last week of the regular season, Lopez scored wins over Deanha Hobbs and Erisnelsy Torres Castillo on June 10th to close out her time as a member of the Los Angeles Tengoose, as her team did not qualify for the playoffs. In the first bout against Hobbs, Lopez controlled the action outside of one good right that found a home with about a half minute to go in the round. “There was that one shot, it was a good shot,” admits Lopez. “I am not going to lie. But I came out on top and I felt pretty good.”
Lopez held a rare size advantage in her bout against Torres Castillo. The shorter fighter had trouble with Lopez’ reach and tried to swing in with looping punches. Lopez imposed her strength and rocked her opponent before the final bell en route to the decision. “I think I controlled the fight,” says Lopez. “I threw a lot of right hooks and I think I almost dropped her late in the round.”
While still training in Los Angeles, Lopez got the call to replace a fighter on the DC Destroyers for their playoff match against the New York City Attitude in Long Beach, California on August 15th. The substitution meant a rematch of the most exciting fight of the competition was set, Lopez-Ocasio one more time. Lopez started out aggressive, just as in their previous encounters, while Ocasio attempted to box more than in their prior brawl. Several Lopez right hands were the most telling punches of the round, helping sway the bout in her favor.
“I think that was my best performance of the whole show actually,” says Lopez. “I felt really, really good that fight. I believe I was coming in and coming out, and it was a hard time for her to hit me.”
Watching the fight closely was coach Danny Gonzalez, who concurred with Lopez’ assessment of her performance that night. “What was the best fight for me, for Lizette, was the rematch when she fought [Ocasio] in the playoffs,” recalls Gonzalez. “In the first fight, they just sat down and were throwing blows and not really setting up their [offense.] It was one of the most amazing fights, and that is why they got nominated for the Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier Award and they won it. That fight, I will never forget it. It was amazing and entertaining and they started a real great relationship. But after that, when they had their rematch, and by then we had been training together and established our gamestyle and our different strategies that would help her win the rounds that she fought, that fight was the most entertaining to me. She clearly did what we had strategized and what we had worked on after week five and for the rest of the show, when we really started getting into our groove, and I like that she showed dominance in that rematch fight.”
After the playoffs, Lopez got one more night to showcase herself as she was named to the Team West all-star team to compete twice against Team East’s Tyriesha Douglas on August 20th. In the build-up to the showcase event, Douglas showed off her entertainer side by eating a sandwich on the scale at the weigh-in before an intense staredown as well as in a bravado-filled face-off segment on YouTube. By this time, it was clear that it was all in fun and the fighters had a mutual respect for one another.
“In my mind I was just laughing about it,” recalls Lopez. “I think it was great that she did that because it brought so much more exposure to both of us and the show. I didn’t have any negative feelings about that or anything. It was all love, no hate with Tyriesha Douglas. She is a really good person and a really good fighter. I think we were just both going into the fight thinking we are going to give it a great fight and I think we did.”
In a fitting conclusion, Lopez and Douglas split their two bouts. Lopez took the first round of the night by split decision by keeping the steadier pace and landing right uppercuts as Douglas faded a bit late. “I think I did pretty well,” says Lopez of that opening round. “It was just a little hard because going into it she’s like my friend. But I gave it my all and tried my best and I think I did pretty well.”
In the second meeting, which was the 16th round of the night, Douglas won a unanimous nod after finding a home for her straight left hand for a couple of the more eye-catching blows. “I thought she took it honestly,” admits Lopez. “I thought she took it, but it is okay, it is all about the experience.”
Lopez added greatly to her collection of supporters with her impressive showing throughout the Team Combat League competition. Los Angeles Tengoose assistant coach Danny Gonzalez counts himself as one of those believers in what the Salinas fighter could accomplish as she continues in her professional pursuits.
“Like I told her before she left, and I teared up a bit, because me and her were really bonding together,” recalls Gonzalez. “We were getting nothing but results and we were in the ring with some really tough opponents and we really held our ground and were doing really good. I told her, when you can focus and implement your strength and conditioning into what got accomplished in the last six weeks, I see nothing but super success for her. I think she can be a world champion easily because of her forward-style pressure and the way she moves and establishes her jab and she’s fierce, she’s smart, she digs uppercuts to the body and she knows how to get away from shots now that we focused on her defense. She would come a little bit too much with her forward offensive threat and she would get caught and lean forward, and she would lose rounds like that. But now that she has her feet under her and she’s managing her distance and being more intelligent with her feet, I see nothing but success for Lizette.”
The future looks bright for Lopez, who remains ready in the gym for whatever comes next. “I do not have anyone [specifically] in mind, but whoever comes at me, trying to fight, I am ready for it,” says Lopez. “Whatever is for me, is for me. I am very grateful for the opportunity and the exposure. I got a lot of exposure out of this and I got to meet a lot of great people. Shout out to [TCL promoter] Akmed. He is a really great person that gave me the opportunity.”
With season one in the rearview, Lopez hopes to get another traditional professional bout under her belt before perhaps making a team for Team Combat League season two. Two teams have announced tryout schedules thus far, with the first one taking place November 4th as of press time. Season two kicks off on March 28, 2024 at a venue to be announced.
Photo by Chris Farina
Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortegajr.mario@gmail.com
