WBO light welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez (21-1, 13 KOs) dealt with a lot of pressure to defeat his Rocky-esque voluntary challenger Steve Claggett (38-8-2,26 KOs) by a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night at the James L.Knight Center in Miami, Florida.
The scores were 120-108, 120-108 and 119-109.
Teofimo Lopez, 27, suffered swelling over both eyes due to the many shots that Claggett got through his defense during the fight. Teo’s power was once again ineffective, and he was forced to move, hold and use a lot of illegal shoulders.
One could tell that Claggett’s pressure was bothering Teofimo during the second half of the fight, as he moved and clinched a lot and threw a lot of rabbit punches. There was a lot of dirty stuff from Teofimo, but he was desperate.
Undercard results:
– In the co-feature bout, former WBO featherweight champion Robeisy Ramirez (14-2, 9 KOs) knocked out Brandon Benitez (21-2, 9 KOs) in the seventh round of a scheduled ten-round contest. The time of the stoppage was at 2:46 of round seven.
The two-time Olympic Cuban gold medalist Robeisy, 30, connected with a beautiful uppercut in the seventh round that floored Benitez. The fight was then halted.
Robeisy was coming off a 12-round majority decision loss to Rafael Espinoza in his previous fight last December and looking to bounce back from the defeat.
Interestingly, Robeisy fought most of tonight’s fight in close against Benitez, beating him with short punches and covering up to block his return fire.
This might be Robeisy’s way of preparing for his rematch with Espinoza because he likely feels that he had his best success in that fight when he was on the inside against the 6’1″ Mexican fighter.
– Middleweight prospect Nico Ali Walsh (11-1, 5 KOs) fought through a dislocated left shoulder injury to defeat Sona Akale (9-2, 4 KOs) by a six-round unanimous decision.
The scores were 58-55, 57-56, and 57-56. Walsh knocked Akale down in the third round but then struggled from the fourth round due to his shoulder injury and the heavy pressure being put on him.
In the sixth, the bone in Walsh’s left shoulder was sticking out, and he couldn’t use his arm. Akale was too exhausted in the fight to take full advantage of Walsh’s injury.
After the fight, the crowd booed Walsh inside the ring and continued booing as he exited.
– Light welterweight prospect Emiliano Vargas (11-0, 9 KOs) destroyed journeyman Jose Zaragoza (9-9-2, 3 KOs), knocking him out in the first round. Vargas unloaded on Zaragoza with a flurry of shots, prompting the contest to be halted.
– In a disappointing performance, light welterweight contender Elvis Rodriguez (16-1-1, 13 KOs) labored to a ten-round unanimous decision against Jino Rodrigo (12-4-2, 10 KOs). Both fighters were down in the first round.
Rodriguez gassed out after the fifth round and fought slowly in the second half of the fight. The scores were 98-91, 98-91, and 97-92.