Photo: Mikey Williams/Top Rank – Although he has other fights on his radar, Teofimo Lopez swears he trains as hard for Steve Claggett as if he were preparing to face Terence Crawford or anyone else.
Teofimo Lopez (20-1, 13 KOs) is heavily favored to win his showdown against Steve Claggett (38-7-2, 26 KOs), scheduled for June 29, at the James L. Knight Center in Miami Beach. But unlike the bookmakers, the WBO and lineal super-lightweight king refuses to underestimate his Canadian opponent.
For him, it’s the oldest cliché in boxing.
‘In the script, I’m supposed to look bad, right? Steve Claggett comes in like some sort of Rocky Balboa. He has everything to gain and I have everything to lose…’ says Lopez, all smiles when asked what version of Apollo Creed he will offer.
‘The one who spars in Rocky III!’
Fun Fact: A 15-minute virtual interview – largely focused on boxing – doesn’t leave much time to get to know someone. One thing I learned about Lopez is that he knows the film industry as well as the boxing one. In addition to his Zoom’s username, ‘THE TAKEOVER,’ his camera gave us a view of a large frame of the cult film Goodfellas, the American gangster story shot by Martin Scorsese in 1990…
Lesson Learned
Coming back to the other 14 minutes of boxing. Of course, even if that were the case, Lopez would never admit to underestimating Claggett. So we relaunched it differently. How can someone, who has already defeated the ‘Matrix’ Lomachenko or the ‘Tornado’ Taylor, trains with the same fire in him for a ‘Dragon’ Claggett, who – as good as he is – never been under the brightest lights?
‘The next fight is always bigger than the last. You know, this is my last interview today and I’m going back to training right after this. I will do this again and again, even if I was on my deathbed, because Teofimo didn’t come back at the top just to fall again,’ he says with passion.
The ‘fall’ he refers to is an upset loss against George Kambosos Jr, three years ago.
‘I’ve learned that to stay at the top, you have to train as if you had never been there before,’ he adds.
Dynamic duo
In the last remaining days of his training camp, the former unified lightweight champion says he reaches ‘floating state’ in the gym, ready to offer the ‘very best version’ of himself against Steve Claggett.
By his side, in his corner as in life, his father and trainer, Teofimo Sr, supervises him while keeping an eye on his opponent.
‘He’s watching him non-stop. We know everything he’s going to do. We see that when he wants to get out of the line, he switches southpaw and doubles it up. We see all that stuff,’ tell Lopez Jr, adding to everyone who maybe forgot that his father was the Coach of the Year in 2020.
But even if he ‘sees everything,’ an easy fight isn’t on the horizon.
‘People look at Steve Claggett’s record, but we look at his style, what he brings to the ring. He’s a tough guy, he ain’t afraid and he arrives confident because his whole team must tell him that I underestimate him… But the opposite is also true! He’s never faced anyone like Teofimo.’
Props and warning
The table is therefore set, because as he credits Steve Claggett for stepping up, Teofimo Lopez is just as vocal about the fate he has in store for him.
‘We know that he’s the kind of guy who could do triathlons, but good luck to him if he thinks I’m going to get tired. Teofimo doesn’t get tired. Never. I’ve fought with punctured lungs before and still went 12 rounds. We’ve seen it all before, guys with hopes and dreams that the storm will slow down after 6 rounds, but even if we get there, it’s not going to happen, so what else are you going to do, Steve Claggett?’
Right there, Lopez turned on the ‘villain mode,’ or at least, the passionate one.
‘I thank you for signing the contract, everyone else didn’t want any of this, so it shows how tough you are, how confident you are and how much want to be the best. But now just show up and see what happens,’ he told Punching Grace, pointing out that his last opponent, Jamaine Ortiz, started to run, once he felt his power and boxing IQ.
And what will happen this time?
‘On June 29, you will see the greatness of Teofimo Lopez. You have the right to dream, Steve Claggett, but you will never take what’s mine. I would never let you take me! I’m not saying you’re going to run, but once in the ring, you will feel the pain, you will feel my pain and you will feel the rain. You will feel everything.’
But hey, on a friendly note.
‘Really, it’s still the best versus the best. I just know it’s going to be a great fight and to everyone watching it from Canada: I love you!’
Because the ‘Takeover’ is worldwide, the American of Honduran’s heritage has earned victories over athletes from the United States, Mexico, Guatemala, Brazil, Kosovo, Japan, Ghana, Ukraine, Spain and the United Kingdom, but on June 29, 2024, under the Miami sun, he will attempt to conquer the North for the first time against the Canadian Dragon himself, Steve Claggett.
