Almost two months after the first information about Teofimo Lopez’s official title defense. Top Rank announced today that the James L. Knight Center will meet Canadian veteran Steve Claggett on June 29 in Miami, Florida.

It’s worth noting that this ESPN show will almost certainly go head-to-head with Juan Francisco Estrada vs. “Bam” Rodriguez on DAZN.

Claggett (38-7-2, 26 KO), 34, is making his first world title shot almost 16 years after his professional debut. His album isn’t the prettiest, but it’s not the paper tiger type you might expect; he has some solid wins over Yves Ulysse Jr and Petros Ananyan, as well as plenty of mid-level kills, hasn’t been stopped in over a decade, and half of his losses since then have been by split or majority decision.

Still, while it’s nice to see him get this opportunity after putting in the work, he seems to be a much easier opponent for Lopez (20-1, 13 KO) to digest than previous worms Sandor Martin and Jamaine Ortiz.

Lopez said: “I have always wanted to fight in South Florida, where I grew up and developed as a fighter.

“I never thought it would happen, but now, on June 29, I get the chance to do it not only as a world champion, but as a lineal world champion in my division. This has been one of my goals since I became a professional, and I am motivated to showcase my talent there in front of my Honduran fans and the entire Latin community.

“It’s like a Rocky Balboa story for Steve Claggett. I can’t wait to see what style I see. There were no other fighters who were interested in fighting me and I felt like he would give not only me but also the fans a great fight to watch.”

Former WBO featherweight champion Robeisy Ramirez (13-2, 8 KO) returns in a joint fight with Brandon Lee Benitez (21-2, 9 KO). Ramirez took a lot of punishment in his December war with Rafael Espinoza, but he’s no stranger to shocking losses in the professional ranks, so there’s a good chance he’ll still be in good shape. Meanwhile, 26-year-old Benitez is 7-0 since a knockout loss to Saul Sanchez in 2019, and two years ago he significantly defeated former champion Xu Can.

All things considered, not a bad rebound opponent.

At the beginning, Nico Ali Walsh (9-1, 5 KO) continues the fight against Sona Akale (9-1, 4 KO). Akale is 36 years antique and this is Cameron Krael’s only win with a current 1-11 skid, which should say something about his chances.

Following his split decision loss to Oleksandr Usyk over the weekend, Tyson Fury appeared at the post-fight press conference to express his reaction to what happened and why he’s not going to complain too much even though he believes he won the fight.

Fury on his reaction to the loss to Usyk

“I always say it’s about making money and having sex, and we did that today,” Fury said. “Thank you Oleksandr for a good fight. It was a tough fight, you know. I believe, I thought I did enough, but I’m not a judge, I can’t judge a fight when I box it.

“If they told me in the last round, ‘You’re losing.’ Come out and try to finish him off.” I would have done it, but everyone in the corner believed we had won. All I had to do was keep boxing and doing what I had to do. But that’s how it was, we won’t cry over spilled milk.

“We won many victories and I gave God the glory. I had one loss in a close fight against a good man like Usyk, and that was it. I gave it my all – I actually had a great time.

When he felt the tide of the fight begin to turn

“I thought for the first six innings he might have hit one of the runs. And looking further, I think I won the last few rounds as well. Let’s say I won five of the first six, and then I won a few in the next six, so listen, it was close. I don’t know. I gave it my all and that’s what it was… I can’t complain about it.

Usyk (22-0, 14 KO) defeated Fury (34-1-1, 24 KO) in the eighth round, which ultimately decided the result. The knockdown was incredible and came at the end of a wild onslaught of pristine shots from Usyk, with Fury wobbling around the ring.

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Referee Mark Nelson could have stopped any other fight in this situation, and he could have done so in this case as well, but the overall impression is that he realized how crucial the fight was and gave Fury a chance to recover. Fury went down, but it was slow in the round and time ran out when he got back up.

However, Usyk maintained pretty good control from there, not because Fury didn’t recover very well, but he regained the momentum – which Fury had taken over in some of the early and middle rounds – and simply didn’t let up.

We will probably see a rematch because that was in the contract, regardless of the outcome of this fight. When we see it is another matter, if so, no have to will obviously happen, they can’t force Fury to fight Usyk again, but Fury sounded like he was willing to do it, feeling like he won the fight.

On the undercard

• Jai Opetaia defeated Mairis Briedis to regain the IBF cruiserweight title – which was stripped of it on a technicality – by unanimous decision. This fight between Opetaia (25-0, 19 KO) and Briedis (28-3, 20 KO) will certainly not make anyone forget their meeting in 2022, a brutal affair and a candidate for fight of the year. It was much more measured, especially for the 39-year-old Briedis, who hasn’t fought at all since. Briedis made a good effort towards the end, trying to steal the victory in stimulating fashion, but too little, too slow.
• Anthony Cacace won the IBF super featherweight title with an upset victory over Joe Cordina after an eighth-round stoppage. This victory will be at least a little controversial, and referee Bob Williams will face some real criticism. Cacace (22-1, 8 KO) caught Cordina with a punch on a third-round stoppage, from which Cordina apparently never fully recovered. Cordina (17-1, 9 KO) went down later in the same round, and although he had a solid fourth, he never returned to the fight after the third. Apart from the half-time strike, Williams makes a pretty pointed change overall.
• Agit Kabayel continued to emerge as a grave heavyweight contender, dominating Frank Sanchez en route to a seventh-round knockout in a WBC heavyweight eliminator. Sanchez (24-1, 17 KO) definitely looked like he had something wrong with his knee, to be completely sincere, but Kabayel (25-0, 17 KO) just took him apart, keeping the pressure high, attacking the body and finishing him off Cuban. The post-fight interview with Kabayel was once again a delight as the man is completely uninterested in the usual boxing nonsense and bullshit, he shows up, fights and is ecstatic to do well and win.

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