Teofimo Lopez vs Steve Claggett – Results & Post Fight Report

After reigning briefly as unified lightweight world champion, Lopez (21-1, 13 KOs) took Josh Taylor’s WBO super lightweight belt with a superb points win in June last year. His first defence saw him outscore Jamaine Ortiz in a scrappy affair in February. Claggett (38-8-2, 26 KOs) had never been anywhere near this level, but the Canadian came in unbeaten in nine since a 2021 loss to Mathieu Germain.

Claggett tried to force the issue in the early rounds, but although he was the aggressor, Lopez would constantly counter and outland the challenger. Lopez kept this pattern up throughout the fight, and the fifth saw him counter Claggett with several uppercuts, before fighting mainly off the ropes, fending off any attacks that Claggett could muster going into the championship rounds.

In the tenth, Lopez landed at least four unanswered right hands to the head of his opponent, and another right hand a round later bloodied the nose of Claggett, whose race had long been run in the hope of taking victory. He never stopped trying though, and did land a solid left hand in the final frame, which was probably his best of the bout, but the result was academic as the two were taken to the cards.

Two scores of 120-108 and a third at 119-109 reflected the dominance of Lopez, who will hope to move on to a big fight next time around.

Robeisy Ramirez (14-2, 8 KOs) made a comeback from the loss of his WBO featherweight title last time out, and the Cuban scored a seventh round stoppage against Brandon Leon Benitez (21-3, 9 KOs) to take the vacant WBO NABO title. A huge uppercut had Benitez on the canvas and all at sea, and the fight was spectacularly over.

Also at featherweight, Yan Santana (12-0, 11 KOs) went the distance for the first time in his career, and the Dominican dropped Brandon Valdes (15-5, 7 KOs) on the way to a comfortable points win. Santana took victory by scores of 98-91 (twice) and 96-93.

Super lightweight prospect Elvis Rodriguez (16-1-1, 13 KOs) and Jino Rodrigo (12-4-2, 10 KOs) both hit the deck in the first round of their meeting, but it was Rodriguez that prevailed over the ten round distance, winning by two scores of 98-91 and a third of 97-92

In eight rounders, welterweight hope Rohan Polanco (13-0, 8 KOs) stopped Luis Hernandez Ramos (23-5, 20 KOs) in two rounds, and at middleweight, Euri Cedeno (9-0-1, 8 KOs) needed less than a minute to knock out Dormedes Potes (14-7-1, 10 KOs).

in six round action, Nico Ali Walsh (10-1, 5 KOs) gained revenge for his only career loss, taking a close points win over six against Sona Akale (9-2, 4 KOs), where a third round knockdown in Ali Walsh’s favour decided their middleweight bout.

Emiliano Vargas (11-0, 9 KOs) took another early win, this time against Jose Zaragoza (9-9-2, 3 KOs), needing just over 90 seconds to win their super lightweight meeting. At heavyweight  Lorenzo Medina (11-0, (9 KOs) was forced to go the distance with Detrailous Webster (7-4, 3 KOs), winning widely on the cards.