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.

Thank you all for the love and support tonight. I’m grateful for you all and I know God has his plans set for me. They can punch me high, kick me low. It’s going to take more than that to break my soul! God bless everyone and Happy Holidays. See you all back in the ring in 2022 pic.twitter.com/Oe5CtG7K3x

— Teofimo Lopez (@TeofimoLopez) November 28, 2021

"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."