WBO junior welterweight world champion Teofimo Lopez (20-1, 13 KOs) is set to defend his title against Steve Claggett (38-7-2, 26 KOs) on Saturday (June 29) at James L. Knight Center in Miami, Florida. Lopez will headline in South Florida for the first time.
“This is going to be a tough fight,” said Lopez. “A lot of people look at Claggett’s record and think I’m going to fight a nobody, but he hasn’t lost in three years. He has fought former champions. He always comes to fight and throws a lot of punches. I need to be in great condition to battle a fighter like him. I can’t overlook him, get overconfident, and play around with him. I know this fight will be great for all my people in Miami.
“Unlike these other supposed champs at 140, Steve Claggett is the only fighter who raised his hand and stepped up to challenge me. No other fighters were interested in getting in the ring with me.
“These other fighters want me to help them make a name for themselves. Although people don’t know much about him, Claggett is very tough and always comes to fight. I want to face fighters like that. I don’t want to face fighters who talk a lot and are just trying to become famous, like my last opponent. I hit him in the second round, and then he ran the rest of the fight. That’s not good for boxing.
“I want to face the top dog in any division I campaign in. Despite the doubters, I have overcome similar skepticism in the past, like before my fights against Josh Taylor and Vasiliy Lomachenko. Throughout my career, I have always sought to compete against the very best. I am always willing to challenge myself. After this fight, if I can get the other junior welterweight champs to get in the ring with me, my primary goal will be to test and push my limits. I want the triple crown.”
Despite what Lopez says I don’t see this being a tough fight.
Why not he’s the boxer..he’s the one entering the ring Sat night..Im just say. night..my boy
Lopez trying to justify the C+ level fighter in front of him. You can’t fight an animal every time out, so as long as he gets in with a legitimate challenger or champion next time out, I’ll give him a pass
Completely clueless.
As long as Lopez stays busy, it’s fine. Traditionally, champions would not only fight mandatories, but non-title fights as well. The difference would be that a big spectacle was not made of them. Usually for free on tv. Champions in the last 20+ years have not been doing the same. Instead, they wait 12, 16 or 18 months between fights, wasting their peak years and risking an upset because of ring rust.
With that aside, we have seen Lopez fighting fighting to the opponent’s level and he has had trouble because of it. Hopefully, he comes in to make a statement so he can get Haney in the ring for a mega fight. Who am I kidding, that fight is off the table for the foreseeable future.
I think all these guys are actively avoiding each other.
You guys are way off with Claggett. He’s as tough as it gets. Look at his record and realize he didn’t have a trainer until three years ago. This will not be an easy fight.
Yes, he is tough and he will come to fight I like others on here just don’t think he has the skills to beat Lopez. Now, Lopez has a tendency to fight similar to his competition like Ortiz, campa, martin, kambosos. Yet, he has been able to outperform too like in fights with Taylor and Loma.
If Claggett can take Lopez’s punch, and it’s not as big as everyone thought it was, he will beat Lopez. No one gave Paro a chance a couple of weeks ago, or Buster Douglas against Tyson. My God, Sandor Martin beat Lopez and was robbed. Lopez is nothing special.
Teo looking for a quick cash in in this clagged fight! Hoping that clagget pulls a kambosos on teo to humble him for a second time!
Teo is already using his usual put downs of other name fighters on podcasts to draw attention to this “fight’. Once this fight is over he will go back out of sight . Right now , he is talking about fighting and beating crawford , tank, and shakur. But he only fights older injured fighters or weight drained inactive fighters. Teo please stop the B.S.
the only real fight next saturday is on dazn with bam rodiguez vs gallo estrada .
Yes, Carlos. Two real warriors one in Estrada, who has fought everybody worth mentioning. Two, bam a fighter that wants to get there by fighting the best.
A fight like this seems a waste of his time. These prime years go by fast, he should be seeking better opposition right now.
Boxing helped put ESPN on the map. The quality has deteriorated ever since. No sport insults its fans like boxing.
wtf
Teo an overrated bum who beat a weight drained Taylor and barely beat a one arm Loma. Can he even cut the ring off yet? Dude a hype job!
Steve Claggett’s last 10 opponents per BoxRec:
– Marcos Barraza
– Miguel Madueno
– Carlos Sanchez
– Alberto Machado
– Rafeal Lugo
– Jonathan Eniz
– Tony Luis
– Sebastian Aguirre
– Emmanual Lopez
– Mathieu Germain
What a joke this fight is. Lopez is trying to talk up Clagget who has no hope in hell of winning. Complete waste of time and does nothing for Lopez’s claim of being the top dog at 140. Liam Paro got that tag whenm he beat Matias who really WAS the 140 fighter nobody wanted to fight.
this is the usual top rank/ espn mismatch and even if clagget happens to win he will never get the “decision” by those “judges”. this just hurts boxings’ credibility or whats left of it……
None of these top guys seem to want to fight Lopez. Not sure about the criticism here. Have you heard any of these top guys claiming they want to fight Lopez?
I don’t think any of them want to fight each other. Matias seemed to want to, but was beat by paro. Will paro go after a big name, I really think he will. As for Lopez, Haney is all about posturing.
Lopez doesn’t do well with fighters who use movement on account he can’t effectively cut off the ring (see Martin and Ortiz fights), Top Rank addresses this issue by matching him up with a cement footed plodder. I like Claggett but he was handpicked for Teo to look good against.
Clarett bum. Teo future bum. Bye
He should win by a big ko or by impressive decision, otherwise say goodbye to winning triple crowns.
espn promoting teo again clagget might hang around for 10 rounds teo says nobody wants to fight him if you could believe that ?
Lopez is defending this fight because he knows its a b.s fight. So tired of all of these meaningless fights at 135 and 140. I’m not the biggest fan of Lopez but he did beat Lomachenko and Josh Taylor. Its time to stop living in the past and fight guys like Issac Cruz and Ryan Garcia. I would love to see Lopez fight Ryan or Cruz.