Teofimo Lopez insisted he was not a "sore loser" after his shock defeat to George Kambosos, but he added: "I won tonight."

Lopez suffered his first career defeat and lost his IBF, WBA (Super) and WBO lightweight titles in shock fashion against Kambosos on Saturday.

The champion had promised a first-round knockout but was instead himself on the canvas early. Although Kambosos was knocked down in the 10th, he did enough to secure a split decision victory.

The long-awaited fight at Madison Square Garden, which saw a series of date changes, led Kambosos to declare himself "the emperor".

"I can't believe how good I boxed," he added, although for Lopez the disbelief centred around the result.

"He's a hell of a fighter, but I won tonight, everybody knows that," he said. "The referee raised my hand.

"I won tonight; I don't care what anybody says, I won tonight. At the end of the day, I've been here, I've done that, I want to thank God, I want to thank everybody that came out tonight.

"Look, I ain't no sore loser, I take my wins like I take my losses. At the end of the day, man, I'm a true champion, I did what I had to do, and I went out there and did my best.

"I don't care what anybody says, man, I am as real as they come, and this is the takeover, man, we don't stop, we keep coming.

"At the end of the day, man, I love you all, I won this fight."