Teofimo Lopez Slugs His Way to Unanimous Decision Over Steve Claggett

In 48 professional fights, Canada’s Steve Claggett has been stopped just once, in the final round of an eight-rounder back in 2011, when Wladimir Klitschko was heavyweight champion, Terence Crawford was a promising lightweight prospect and Teofimo Lopez was 13 years old.

Lopez wasn’t able to become the second man to stop the resilient man from Calgary, Alberta, on Saturday night, but it wasn’t for lack of effort. The Brooklynite Lopez threw and landed career highs, connecting with 282 of 619 power punches as he rolled to a unanimous decision to retain his WBO junior welterweight title in an ESPN main event from Miami Beach, Florida.

Claggett (38-8-2, 26 KOs) started well, pushing Lopez across the ring and against the ropes with a stiff jab in the first round.

In the second, Claggett maintained the pressure, using his jab to close the gap on Lopez and work in close, smothering and swarming Lopez. The belt holder was unconcerned, looking for opportunities to counter Claggett’s pressure, but he was struggling to land anything truly meaningful.

By the end of the second, however, Lopez was beginning to look comfortable with his footwork and angles, and was starting to find success landing between the challenger’s punches. That continued into the third, Lopez retreating and drawing Claggett onto his counters. Claggett was still doing good work, but it was already difficult to see how he was going to ride his work rate and pressure to victory once Lopez was fully dialed in.

By the fourth round, Lopez (21-1, 13 KOs) had found his comfort zone. He fired a snappy jab that repeatedly prevented Claggett from getting off with his own punches and also kept the Canadian at the perfect distance for Lopez to launch overhand rights and lead right uppercuts, one of which stiffened Claggett noticeably.

Claggett, however, would not be denied, and in Rounds 5, 6 and 7, he kept grinding forward and forcing Lopez to work, even as the titleholder’s heavier punches thudded into his head. A huge counter uppercut knocked Claggett backward in Round 8, prompting Lopez to open up with combinations, but the man from Alberta recovered his senses quickly and once more was chuntering forward by round’s end.

A rapid-fire three-punch combination from Lopez found a home in the ninth, and although Claggett seemed to find a second wind in the 10th, he still wasn’t able to disrupt Lopez’s counterpunching rhythm. Equally, however, Lopez seemed by this stage increasingly resigned to going the distance, as he focused mostly on keeping Claggett at range rather than fully committing to an attempt to knock his challenger out.

When the final bell rang, the only suspense was whether Claggett would win any rounds; he won one, on one scorecard, as Lopez ran out a 120-108, 120-108 and 119-109 winner.

While failing to stop Claggett is hardly a disgrace, the fact remains that, after scoring 12 knockouts in his first 16 fights, all at lightweight, Lopez has just one in five at 140 pounds. Even so, he said afterward that he is aiming even higher.

“To be real – I’m going to be frank with you guys – I feel like with this weight cut and everything, my body’s growing,” he told ESPN’s Bernardo Osuna in the ring. “And although it don’t look like I can handle myself at 147 [pounds], I believe I can. I truly believe I can, and I want these great champions.”