Teofimo Lopez will defend his WBO light welterweight title in a keep-busy contest against Steve Claggett tonight in the 12-round headliner in a showcase fight on ESPN to help build the former unified 135-lb champion’s star power.
The main portion of tonight’s card starts at 10:00 p.m. ET on ESPN and ESPN+ at the James L. Knight Center in Miami, Florida.
Boxing News 24 will give live updates of the results and action below tonight.
Claggett (38-7-2, 26 KOs) has many losses for a title challenger but still gets the title challenger over higher-ranked unbeaten contenders. This fight is more window dressing to cover Teofimo’s recent poor performances.
Main Card on ESPN+ and ESPN, 10:00 pm ET
– Teofimo Lopez vs. Steve Claggett
– Robeisy Ramirez vs. Brandon Benitez
Event Details
Start time: The Teofimo vs. Claggett event starts at 9:00 pm ET.
Channel: ESPN and ESPN+
In the chief support fight, two-time Olympic gold medalist Robeisy Ramirez fights featherweight contender Brandon Benitez (21-2, 9 KOs) in a ten-round contest.
It’s a must-win fight for the former WBO 126-lb champion Robeisy (13-2, 8 KOs), who lost his previous fight to Rafael Espinoza by a 12-round majority decision on December 9th last year in Pembroke Pines, Florida, in an upset loss.
Teofimo’s Recent Struggles
Teofimo (20-1, 13 KOs) has had significant problems lately. He’s struggled to win fights he was supposed to dominate, but the judging saved him in his contests against Sandor Martin and Jamaine Ortiz.
The 26-year-old Lopez can’t afford that kind of performance against the 34-year-old Claggett tonight because that would signal that things are not right with the Teo ship. Teofimo can play it off like everything is fine, but it’s not.
One bad performance against George Kambosos Jr. was one thing, but Teofimo has turned in several others after that fight and has only looked good against a past his-prime Josh Taylor.
Preliminary card:
– Yan Santana vs. Brandon Valdes
– Rohan Polanco vs. Luis Hernandez Ramos
– Nico Ali Walsh vs. Sona Akale
– Euri Cedeno vs. Dormedes Potes
– Lorenzo Medina vs. Colby Madison
– Bryan Polaco vs. Richard Acevedo
Read the full article here
