A few weeks AFTER defeating Steve Claggett in defense of his WBO 140-pound title, Teofimo Lopez was in a calm, relaxed mood.
Speaking to ESPN's Mark Kriegel, before leaving for vacation in Italy, Teo talked about how tough his Canadian rival is.
“I'd say, I've never thrown this many punches in my career, but obviously with an angry bullfighter like Steve Claggett, you definitely have to stay active and get through,” he explained.
“However, I think the takeaway, for me, is that will has to be stronger than ability, and that's what it was that night. I'll be honest though, I think I could have done 15 rounds with this guy. We have to get it back!”
While Kriegel quickly shuts down that idea, hitting the target face first after a round can help conserve energy. Maintaining the same physical threat and mental focus against one of his top contemporaries will present different challenges.
“What I've learned is that I don't have to fix things that aren't broken,” Lopez thought. “I changed the material on the inside of my gloves from the normal bone type gloves with Grant, to horse hair.
“I think the only one who can be perfect in that is Cleto Reyes. Nothing to take away from Grant, amazing gloves.”
Not satisfied with the materialistic answer, Kriegel followed up with his first probing question about some of the hidden, deeper things Lopez may have learned from Claggett's fight.
“I think what I learned the most about myself is that I still have the hunger for the game,” Lopez replied.
“I still have that love for the game, and I think that's an important part of it. When I expressed on ESPN on the platform of the last Max Kellerman show, I remember I expressed that I don't want to do this anymore, I don't need to anymore.
“I felt like I accomplished everything, so as my hero, that puts that in his place, and I want to retire, I think I lost a little fire at that time. Especially with the amazing victory over Taylor.”
The win over Josh Taylor was really amazing. Claggett's victory was very effective and Lopez knew what kind of fight it was going to be. Faced with a veteran competitor blessed with a “rock chin” (Kriegel's words), who arrives in Florida to make his own Rocky Balboa moment, sometimes the banana skins come at unexpected times.
While many were underestimating the selection of Steve Claggett as a world championship contender, Teofimo put his trust in the promotion's extensive team to bring him the right fights at the right time.
This is not something he always did with Top Rank, especially when he deviated and almost crossed the road to Thriller to fight George Kambosos. When that option passed, the fight ended on DAZN. Lopez now gives the impression that the same move, trying to find greener grass, will not happen twice.
“We have amazing teammates, Hall of Famers to speak of. Brad Goodman and Bruce Trampler, they know how to get the job done.
“That's why we call it Top Rank, for that reason. Only the elite can reach this level, and I have learned in this game process to let the players of the game take care of my work.
“For example, they have done the works of Miguel Cotto, Felix Trinidad, The Four Horsemen, Floyd Mayweather, Oscar De La Hoya. The list could go on and on.”
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