Teofimo Lopez successfully retained his title against Steve Claggett on June 29 at James L. Knight Center in Miami, Florida. The bout served as the main event live on ESPN.
Brooklyn’s two-division world champion out-boxed and defeated the Canadian challenger of Calgary, Alberta by decision. After 12 rounds, two judges scored the fight 120-108, and the third judge had 119-109, all in favor of the representative of the country-host.
With the victory by unanimous decision, 26-year-old Teofimo Lopez improved to 21-1, 13 KOs and made the second successful defense of his WBO super lightweight title. 35-year-old Steve Claggett didn’t succeed in his first attempt to become champion and dropped to 38-8-2, 26 KOs.
“I knew exactly what kind of fighter he was,” Lopez said post-fight. “I knew he would come forward and test my conditioning. And that’s what we had. We went twelve rounds.”
“The will has to be stronger than the skill. And that’s what we showed tonight. If I was tired, I know he was more tired because I worked very hard for this. We knew we had to break him down. The body shots were hurting him.”
“I’m very grateful. He’s a tough fighter. I don’t think anyone should overlook him. I knew that coming into this.”
Get Lopez vs Claggett full fight card results.