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Mike Coppinger, ESPN Boxing Insider
MIAMI — Teofimo Lopez glides across the ring with palm timber surrounding him again the place it began for the junior welterweight champion.
Lopez was born in Brooklyn, New York, however grew up in South Florida after relocating at age 5. It was close to right here, roughly 20 miles away in Davie, the place Lopez began coaching in boxing one 12 months later beneath the steering of his father, Teofimo Lopez Sr.
And it is the place Lopez returns Saturday at 26 — along with his father nonetheless manning the nook — for his first skilled combat in Miami, when he defends his WBO junior welterweight title towards Steve Claggett (10 p.m. ET, ESPN and ESPN+).
Lopez (21-1, 13 KOs) is as soon as once more seeking to construct momentum. He claimed he was retiring final summer season after his spectacular win over Josh Taylor to grow to be a two-division champion. Then, in February, Lopez struggled to a call victory over Jamaine Ortiz in an uneventful combat that elicited boos.
Lopez, maybe, simply wanted a break. He rested after his final combat, Lopez informed ESPN earlier this month in Little Havana, and now feels rejuvenated.
“I feel that did a superb factor for me; I feel that general I wanted that,” stated Lopez, ESPN’s No. 10 pound-for-pound boxer. “I used to be coaching proper after my combat with Josh Taylor. So you’re looking at like eight months of camp, actually.”
For the second consecutive outing, Lopez will face somebody beneath the elite stage. In opposition to a tailored opponent in Claggett, Lopez might use one other highlight-reel KO to create some buzz for a far-bigger matchup sooner or later.
He is a uniquely gifted fighter, an athletic boxer-puncher with a inventive offensive arsenal. There’s the Lopez who defeated Vasiliy Lomachenko (2020) and Taylor. Each had been eye-opening performances that made Lopez the lineal champion (Lomachenko at 135 kilos, Taylor at 140).
Nonetheless, Lopez has additionally been susceptible to letdowns. He was outpointed by George Kambosos Jr. in ESPN’s 2021 Upset of the Yr. The combat — his first following the Lomachenko win — occurred in November of that 12 months in New York. It was initially set for June at LoanDepot Park, dwelling of the Miami Marlins. Then he got here down with COVID-19, scrapping the homecoming combat Lopez was ready for and setting him off monitor.
Lopez moved as much as 140 kilos afterward, and Saturday’s bout might be his fifth on the weight. The matchup with Claggett (38-7-2, 26 KOs) quantities to a stay-busy combat. Regardless of 47 professional bouts, the 35-year-old Canadian has by no means competed in a 12-round combat.
Claggett was picked, ostensibly, as a result of he presents a straightforward goal to supply Lopez’s first KO victory since August 2022. Lopez is –135 to just do that, per ESPN BET, and -1200 to win outright.
“After they introduced the combat with Claggett, I used to be shocked as a result of he ought to dominate and win regardless of how lengthy the combat goes,” longtime matchmaker Eric Bottjer informed ESPN. “… Lopez is in one other world, so this combat shouldn’t be aggressive. … It is only a marking-time combat. It is for Teofimo to remain busy, preserve his thoughts on boxing.”
Lopez referred to Claggett as a “powerful, rugged” fighter. In different phrases, he will not provide a slick, box-and-move model like Ortiz, who pissed off Lopez in an in depth combat. Sandor Martin, whom Lopez eked previous in December 2022, boxed in the same method.
“Steve Claggett is simply somebody that comes ahead,” Lopez stated. “… I do not like guys that speak about it simply to get a paycheck and never present as much as combat.”
Whatever the model of all three opponents, not one in every of them represents something remotely approaching a marquee combat for Lopez, a rising star with an outsized persona.
Lopez plans to return in September — “we received one thing in thoughts” — and hopes to combat a fourth time in December. He says the massive fights “are across the nook,” although it is unclear when.
He appears pissed off with the truth that different large names in his division, based on Lopez, do not wish to take the chance of preventing him.
“Everybody simply wants to simply accept: If you lose to Teofimo, you are not dropping to the worst man,” Lopez stated. “You are dropping to the perfect man. So simply embrace the truth that that loss is only a lesson for you guys to know that I used to be only a higher man. That is it.”
The junior welterweight division Lopez sits atop gives some intriguing choices. Star boxer Gervonta “Tank” Davis competed at 140 kilos as soon as and has mentioned a return. He is in talks to fulfill Lomachenko later this 12 months in a light-weight title unification.
One other star, Ryan Garcia, is suspended till April 2025 after he examined optimistic for a banned substance earlier than his combat with Devin Haney. Haney simply vacated his 140-pound title and seems headed for welterweight.
Whereas Lopez has by no means campaigned above 140 kilos, he singled out Terence Crawford, who challenges Israil Madrimov for a junior middleweight title on Aug. 3.
“I can combat at ’54,” Lopez stated. “… It does not matter how large they’re, it is about your expertise. It’s about the way you combat, the way you’re capable of handle via it. So long as the legs are robust, you’ll be able to go up in any weight class.”
Lopez says that when he fought Taylor, he was 152 kilos on combat night time whereas Taylor was 165.
“Is [Crawford] prepared to really do yet another large combat?” Lopez requested. “We are going to see. I feel he is simply targeted on cashing out and saying, ‘Good riddance. I did my factor.’
“However I do not imagine a man like himself that’s so aggressive goes to wish to stroll out like that. You possibly can’t say you are the perfect; you bought to face a man like me. I speak numerous s—, however I again it up.”
Within the meantime, Lopez will keep busy and look to search out the one factor that is proved maybe much more elusive than his slick opponents: consistency.
“We have now some issues that we started working on,” Lopez stated. “That is effective. That is a part of it. I am solely 26. The way in which I combat appears like I am in my prime in my thirties, however I am not. I am nonetheless a child on this and I am studying from it. So I feel that is the perfect half, is that I do know that I’ve time and time is my greatest good friend.”
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