Teofimo Lopez notched another win on his record over the weekend but not in the kind of performance most were hoping to see from him. Lopez credits Claggett as a durable fighter and says he purposely chose to face a fighter like him to prepare him for what may come down the line. Here’s some of what Lopez had to say reacting to the outcome below.
Lopez on his immediate reaction to his fight with Claggett
“What a fight. Muhammad Ali says the will got to be stronger than the skills. Today wasn’t about skills, today was about will, will strength. I knew the type of fighter I was fighting. This guy is a triathlon athlete for crying out loud, conditioning’s impeccable. And me with asthma, I’m grateful.
“I was not surprised at all (about his durability), I know what type of fighter I chose…I like tough fights, tough fights bring the best out of me. Look, the most punches I ever had and landed of my punch count in my career. That’s amazing, I’m telling you, man. I’m proud of myself just for that, I don’t care how my face look.”
On what statement he made in facing a durable fighter like Claggett
“It says that I don’t care, I’m here to fight. Let’s make a fight happen. I don’t care how I look, my hand is going to get raised at the end of it all…I needed this a lot. For everybody else, whether it’s ‘47, ‘40, Bob said I did well — he don’t look too happy, f—k it. I don’t care. I’m your only last star available and that’s it. So you just got to deal with it, you know what I mean.”
On if he’s still interested in a fight against Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz
“F—k yeah. Hell yeah, I’m ready for it. I’m excited, now I know how to face fighters like that even better, on a better standpoint. Just more conditioning, more track work, and that’s it. I think this gives everybody more opportunity to jump that gun. But let’s see how they do when we start clacking them up.”
On if he still’s considering a move up to welterweight
“Absolutely, though. These are the types of fights that I want. But like no one’s going to fight like Steve Claggett. There’s only one other fighter that maybe might do it just a little bit, and he’s smaller, and that’s Pitbull, Isaac Cruz. But other than that every other fighter you can think of don’t fight that way at all. They all box.
“Crawford boxes, whether it’s orthodox, whether it’s southpaw, he boxes. He doesn’t really slug in there. So this is why I do these type of fights for a reason.
“I love the way it is. Like God makes me sometimes look subpar, if that has to be that case, so these other chumps and come in and jump in the gun.”