WBO gentle welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez defends towards #13 Steve Claggett (38-7-2, 26 KOs) on June twenty ninth dwell on ESPN on the James L. Knight Middle in Downtown Miami, Florida. The occasion begins at 10:00 p.m / 7:00 p.m. PT on ESPN and ESPN
Teofimo turned down these killers in favor of Claggett: Raymond Muratalla, Elvis Rodriguez, and Kenneth Sims Jr. No matter confidence that Teofimo as soon as had in his profession has evaporated since 2021, and he seems like a washed one-hit marvel.
You possibly can argue that the 34-year-old Claggett is only a slight step above the journeyman stage. With seven defeats and no actual notable wins on his lengthy 15-year resume, Claggett is a poor option to be difficult for a world title.
Confidence Booster for Teofimo
That is one other lackluster combat for the previous unified light-weight champion Teofimo (20-1, 13 KOs), who’s coming off a controversial 12 spherical unanimous determination over Jamaine Ortiz final February in Las Vegas.
Teofimo clearly misplaced that combat, giving a second controversial win in his final three outings, hurting his recognition much more than it already has after being overwhelmed by George Kambosos Jr. in 2021.
Some may argue that Teofimo’s promoters at Prime Rank match him towards Claggett to maintain him profitable and artificially enhance his nose-diving recognition.
By feeding Teofimo a lower-level fighter, his possibilities of profitable and looking out good are excessive, which is able to improve curiosity with informal boxing followers, who aren’t conscious that Claggett isn’t extremely rated and nowhere close to one of the best at 140.
“This is sort of a Rocky Balboa story for Steve Claggett,” mentioned Teofimo in primarily admitting that he’s dealing with a no-hoper ham & egger in a voluntary protection quite than dealing with one of many killers that might doubtlessly dethrone him.
“There have been no different fighters who had been desirous about preventing me, and I felt like he would give not simply me, however the followers as effectively, an awesome combat to observe,” mentioned Teofimo.
Teofimo is being disingenuous when he says “no different fighters” are desirous about preventing him. There are plenty of contenders at 140 that will leap on the probability of preventing Teofimo if he and his promoters at Prime Rank had been prepared to combat them.
Fighters eager to combat towards Teofimo:
Jamaine Ortiz
Keyshawn Davis
Richardson Hitchins
Gary Antuanne Russell
Arnold Barboza Jr.
Sandor Martin
Regis Prograis
Elvis Rodriguez
George Kambosos Jr.
Jose Ramirez
Teofimo seems to be washed up since his loss to Kambosos three years in the past, and has didn’t dwell as much as the expectations that followers and the media had for him after his upset towards injured Vasily Lomachenko in 2020.
Robeisy Ramirez vs. Brandon Leon Benitez
Former WBO featherweight champion Robeisy Ramirez (13-2, 8 KOs) will likely be taking a confidence-booster towards little-known Brandon Leon Benitez (21-2, 9 KOs) within the 10-round chief help bout on the cardboard.
The 2-time Olympic gold medalist from Cuba, Robeisy, misplaced his WBO 126-lb title in his final combat towards the lanky 6’1″ Rafael Espinoza by a 12 spherical majority determination final December in Pembroke Pines, Florida.
The peak, attain and excessive work fee of Espinoza gave Robeisy enormous issues. Robeisy had Espinoza down within the fifth, however let him off the hook by not going for the end.
Espinoza then got here on to dominate the later rounds, and drop Robeisy within the twelfth spherical with a flurry of pictures. After that beatdown, it’s comprehensible why Prime Rank is matching Robeisy towards a delicate contact.
Nonetheless, he’s 30-years-old, has misplaced twice in his brief five-year profession, and may’t afford to be preventing tomato cans for lengthy as a result of he has greater than sufficient expertise as an newbie to bounce again towards one of the best, offered he’s not dealing with somebody as tall because the 6’1″ Espinoza.
To beat a man like that, Robeisy would want to sit down down extra on his pictures as a result of his newbie fashion of throwing single pot pictures didn’t work towards this quantity puncher.
