WBO light welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez (21-1, 13 KOs) had a more challenging time than expected, beating fringe contender Steve Claggett (38-8-2,26 KOs), winning a twelve-round unanimous decision in the main event on Saturday night at the James L.Knight Center in Miami, Florida.
What was supposed to be a showcase fight to make Teofimo look good after a string of dismal performances turned out to be a hard fight. Claggett was a nonstop dynamo, staying on top of Teo all night and looking like vintage GGG with his unrelenting pressure.
Teofimo was wearing a fake smile through much of the fight, but he wasn’t happy because he was getting hit a lot. Both eyes were swollen, showing that it was not the walk in the park that he thought it would be.
The judges’ scores were 120-108, 120-108, and 119-109.
Undercard results:
– In the chief support fight, two-time Olympic gold medalist Robeisy Ramirez (14-2, 9 KOs) stopped Brandon Benitez (21-2, 9 KOs) in the seventh round with a big uppercut. Referee Chris Young immediately stopped the fight after Benitez hit the deck. The fight was halted at 2:46 of the seventh.
Benitez took a beating from Robeisy tonight, who couldn’t miss with his pinpoint shots. By the fourth, Benitez was bleeding from the nose and both eyes looked in bad shape. The beating got worse in the fifth and sixth, as Robeisy hit Benitez at will with shots, while blocking his attempts to land.
– Middleweight prospect Nico Ali Walsh (11-1, 5 KOs) beat Sona Akale (9-2, 4 KOs) by an exciting drama-filled six-round unanimous decision. Walsh knocked Akale down in the third but then took a lot of punishment in the fourth and fifth rounds along the ropes.
In the sixth, Walsh suffered a left shoulder injury and couldn’t use that arm during the round. It was hanging loosely by his side, forcing him to fight with just his right, but that’s all he needed to make it out of the round. The scores were 58-55, 57-56, and 57-56.
– Undefeated light welterweight prospect Emiliano Vargas (11-0, 9 KOs) obliterated veteran Jose Zaragoza (9-9-2, 3 KOs) by a first-round knockout in a scheduled eight round contest. Vargas, 20, blitzed Zaragoza, nailing him with a storm of punches. Referee Luis Pabon was forced to step in and stop the fight. The time of the stoppage was at 1:32 of the first.
– Light welterweight contender Elvis Rodriguez (16-1-1, 13 KOs) had a tougher time than expected with Jino Rodrigo (12-4-2, 10 KOs), getting dropped in round one and needing to battle hard to win a ten-round unanimous decision.
Rodriguez returned the favor, knocking Rodrigo down. Down the stretch, Rodriguez faded and was content with winning a decision against a fighter he had been expected to knock out. The scores were 98-91, 98-91, and 97-92.
