MIAMI — Teofimo Lopez glides through the ring surrounded by palm trees where it all began for the junior welterweight champion.

Lopez was born in Brooklyn, Modern York, but grew up in South Florida, where he moved when he was 5. It was not far, about 20 miles away in Davie, that Lopez began boxing training a year later under the tutelage of his father, Teofimo Lopez Sr.

And that’s where Lopez will return on Saturday at the age of 26 (his father will still be in the corner) to fight his first professional fight in Miami, defending his WBO junior welterweight world title against Steve Claggett (10 p.m. time). Eastern, ESPN and ESPN+).

Lopez (21-1, 13 KO) once again wants to gain momentum. He claimed he was retiring last summer after an impressive victory over Josh Taylor to become a two-division champion. Then, in February, Lopez scored a decision victory over Jamain Ortiz in a tranquil fight that drew boos.

Lopez, perhaps, simply needed a break. He rested after his last fight, Lopez told ESPN earlier this month in Little Havana, and now feels rejuvenated.

“I think it was good for me; I think I needed it overall,” said Lopez, ESPN’s No. 10 pound-for-pound boxer. “I trained right after the Josh Taylor fight. So you’re really looking at about eight months of camp.”

For the second straight time, Lopez will face someone below the elite level. Against a perfectly tailored opponent in Claggett, Lopez could operate another impressive knockout to generate buzz for a much bigger fight in the future.

He is an exceptionally talented fighter, an athletic boxer-puncher with a innovative offensive arsenal. There is Lopez, who defeated Vasiliy Lomachenko (2020) and Taylor. Both performed with a bang, making Lopez the lineal champion (Lomachenko at 135 pounds, Taylor at 140 pounds).

However, Lopez also experienced disappointments. He was passed by George Kambosos Jr. on ESPN’s 2021 Upset of the Year. The fight – his first after his victory over Lomachenko – took place in November this year in Modern York. The gala was originally scheduled to take place in June at LoanDepot Park, home of the Miami Marlins. Then he contracted Covid-19, preventing the fight to return home that Lopez had been waiting for and throwing him off balance.

Lopez later moved up to 140 pounds, and Saturday’s fight will be his fifth fight at that weight. The fight with Claggett (38-7-2, 26 KO) promises to be a tough fight. Despite 47 professional fights, the 35-year-old Canadian has never had a fight lasting 12 rounds.

The choice fell on Claggett, allegedly because he’s an uncomplicated target to give Lopez his first knockout win since August 2022. According to ESPN BET, Lopez’s odds of doing just that are -135 and -1,200 for him to win.

“When they announced the Claggett fight, I was surprised because he should dominate and win no matter how long the fight goes on,” longtime matchmaker Eric Bottjer told ESPN. “… Lopez is in a different world, so this fight shouldn’t be competitive. … It’s just a time trial. Teofimo needs to stay busy, focus on boxing.”

Lopez called Claggett a “tough, tough” player. In other words, he won’t offer the polished, boxing and moving style of Ortiz, who frustrated Lopez in a close fight. Sandor Martin, whom Lopez defeated in December 2022, boxed in a similar way.

“Steve Claggett is someone who is coming out,” Lopez said. “…I don’t like guys who talk about it just to get a paycheck and don’t come to the fight.”

Regardless of the fighting style of all three opponents, none of them even comes close to representing what could be a gigantic fight for Lopez, a rising star with a larger-than-life personality.

Lopez plans to return in September – “we have something in mind” – and hopes to fight for a fourth time in December. He says the gigantic fights are “right around the corner,” although when is unclear.

According to Lopez, he appears to be frustrated with the fact that other gigantic names in his division are not willing to take the risk of fighting him.

“Everybody just has to accept: When you lose to Teofimo, you don’t lose to the worst guy,” Lopez said. “You lose to the best guy. So just accept the fact that this loss is just a lesson for you, that I was just a better person. That’s it.”

Lopez’s junior welterweight division offers some intriguing options. Boxing star Gervonta “Tank” Davis once competed at 140 pounds and was considering a return. He is in talks with Lomachenko later this year as part of the unification of the lightweight title.

Fellow star Ryan Garcia will be suspended until April 2025 after testing positive for a banned substance ahead of his fight with Devin Haney. Haney just vacated the 140-pound title and appears headed to welterweight.

Although Lopez has never fought above 140 pounds, he singled out Terence Crawford, who will fight Israil Madrimov for the junior middleweight title on August 3.

“I can fight at 54,” Lopez said. “…It doesn’t matter how gigantic they are, it’s about your skill. It’s about how you fight, how you deal with it. As long as you have forceful legs, you can move up in any weight class.”

Lopez claims that when he fought Taylor, he weighed 152 pounds on fight night while Taylor weighed 165 pounds.

“Is [Crawford] ready for one more gigantic fight?” Lopez asked. “We’ll see. I think he’s just focused on the payday and saying, ‘It’s good. I did my job.’

“But I don’t believe that a guy like him, so competitive, would want to leave like that. You can’t say you’re the best; you have to face a guy like me. I say a lot of s—, but I support it.”

In the meantime, Lopez will be busy and looking for the one thing that has proven perhaps even more elusive than his skillful adversaries: consistency.

“We have some things we need to work on,” Lopez said. “That’s OK. That’s part of it. I’m only 26. The way I’m fighting, it looks like I’m in my 30s at my peak, but I’m not. I’m still a kid in this and I’m learning from it. So I think that’s the best part, that I know I have time, and time is my best friend.”