A COUPLE of weeks after beating Steve Claggett in a dominant defence of his WBO 140-pound title, Teofimo Lopez was in a relaxed, reflective temper.
Talking to ESPN’s Mark Kriegel, earlier than jetting off on vacation to Italy, Teo talked about simply how powerful his Canadian opponent proved to be.
“I’d say, I by no means threw this many punches in my profession, however clearly with a raging bullfighter like Steve Claggett, you need to undoubtedly keep energetic and push by,” he defined.
“Nevertheless, I feel that the takeaway was, for me, the need should be stronger than the ability, and that’s what it was that night time. I’ll be sincere although, I feel I may have performed 15 rounds with this man. We should always convey it again!”
Whereas Kriegel swiftly shut that notion down, punching a face-first goal spherical after spherical can definitely assist protect power. Sustaining the identical bodily risk and psychological focus when confronted with considered one of his elite contemporaries will present totally different challenges.
“What I realized is that I shouldn’t repair sure issues that aren’t damaged,” Lopez mused. “I modified the fabric inside my gloves from regular orthopaedic type of gloves with Grant, I modified it to horse hair.
“I feel the one ones that might actually, like, be good on that finish is Cleto Reyes. Nothing to remove from Grant, they’re phenomenal gloves.”
Unhappy with a materialistic response, Kriegel adopted up on his preliminary probing query about a number of the hidden, deeper issues that Lopez may’ve realized from the Claggett combat.
“I feel what I realized primarily about myself is that I nonetheless have the starvation for the sport,” Lopez responded.
“I nonetheless have that love for the game, and I feel that’s the principle necessary a part of it. After I expressed to ESPN on the platform of the final displaying of Max Kellerman, I keep in mind I expressed that I don’t need to do that no extra, I don’t must.
“I felt like I completed every little thing, in order a fighter myself, that places that into his aspect, and actually desires to retire, I feel I misplaced a bit of bit of fireplace in that second. Particularly coming off an exceptional win towards Taylor.”
The win over Josh Taylor was certainly phenomenal. The win over Claggett was extra purposeful and Lopez knew the type of combat it could transform. Dealing with a veteran contender blessed with a “chin of rock” (Kriegel’s phrases), arriving in Florida to create his personal Rocky Balboa second, generally banana skins arrive in unexpected moments.
Whereas many scorned Steve Claggett’s choice as a world championship opponent, Teofimo positioned religion within the wider promotional group to ship him the precise fights on the proper time.
This isn’t one thing he has all the time performed with High Rank, particularly across the wayward interval that noticed him first nearly cross the road to Triller to combat George Kambosos. When that possibility fell by, the combat ended up on DAZN. Lopez now gives the look {that a} comparable transfer, searching for greener grass, wouldn’t occur twice.
“We now have phenomenal matchmakers, Corridor of Famers so to talk. Brad Goodman and Bruce Trampler, they know how you can make a profession.
“Because of this we name it High Rank, for that purpose. Solely the highest can rank to this diploma, and I’ve realized on this means of the sport to permit the matchmakers to maintain my profession.
“For example, they’ve made the careers of Miguel Cotto, Felix Trinidad, The 4 Horsemen, Floyd Mayweather, Oscar De La Hoya. The listing may go on and on.”
