Teofimo Lopez will be making a voluntary defense of his WBO light welterweight title against veteran #13 Steve Claggett on June 29th on ESPN and ESPN+. The event will be taking place at the James L. Knight Center in Miami, Florida.
Claggett is Teofimo’s baby, a fighter that he wanted, and chose over these top-level fighters:
– Raymond Muratalla
– Elvis Rodriguez
– Kenneth Sims Jr.
– Keyshawn Davis
Top Rank’s choice of Claggett is unusual because he’s not well known in the U.S. It makes Teofimo look like his promoters have no confidence in him anymore after his recent poor performances against Jamaine Ortiz, Sandor Martin, Pedro Campa, and George Kambosos Jr. More and more, Teofimo is looking like a one-hit wonder, another Kambosos Jr.
Given that this is a showcase fight for Teofimo, it’s important that he looks good. He fought poorly in his last fight and lost in the eyes of the boxing public, which will not help Teofimo’s popularity.
In fact, Teofimo’s popularity, such as it is, will drop from this fight because Claggett is more journeymen-level. The timing of this match is horrible, with Teo coming off a gift decision against Jamaine Ortiz last February.
Teofimo should have chosen to clear up the controversy from his fight against Jamaine by giving him a rematch, but it’s likely that Top Rank saw the writing on the wall.
Jamaine showed that he’s the superior fighter to Teofimo, and if they made that rematch, the judges might not bail Teo out the second time as they did last February. That would be Teofimo’s second career defeat or third if you count his match against Sandor Martin as a loss from their fight in 2022.
With all the options available for Teofimo to fight at 140, it’s telling that Top Rank chose to match him against the fringe contender Claggett.
That’s a red flag that they have no faith in Teofimo’s ability to beat good contenders, so they’re going to play it safe until they can line him up for a big-money fight against Devin Haney or Ryan Garcia.
The options are not great for Teofimo at light welterweight, especially if he keeps performing like he did in his last fight against
In the chief support fight on the June 29th card, recently dethroned former WBO featherweight champion Robeisy Ramirez will be fighting Brandon Leon Benitez in a 10-rounder.
Two-time Olympic gold medalist Robeisy lost his title to Rafael Espinoza in his last fight in December, and there are many questions about whether he’s got what it takes to climb his way back. Benitez is on the same level as Teofimo’s opponent, a soft touch to help Robeisy come back from his devasting loss.
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