Teofimo Lopez has shared the ring with several elite-level pugilists, and a former foe gave his thoughts on Lopez’s recent performance against Shakur Stevenson. Becoming the third youngest individual to ascend to four division champ status in boxing history, Stevenson claimed Lopez’s WBO super lightweight title in a thoroughly dominant performance.
Steve Claggett is the referenced prior Lopez adversary here, and the Canadian combatant prepares to battle Adam Azim on May 30th under Queensberry Rules. His opponent Azim, credited Claggett as a tough, experienced fighter, and specifically said in a previous interview that he felt Claggett gave Teofimo Lopez his toughest fight.
Considering his anecdotal experience in direct competition, when asked for his thoughts on Lopez’s recent performance against Shakur Stevenson and the former’s characterization that he had implemented the wrong game plan in that Stevenson loss, Claggett said [via Bowks Talking Bouts],
“Well, I think that’s exactly right because he was trying to outbox a master boxer. It’s a tough one to go against because he’s counter punching a counter puncher. It’s like stylistically you’ve got to try and make the guy fight your fight. Then when you fight his fight, it’s going to be a tricky one especially when he’s a master boxer like Shakur is. So, I feel like the name of the game is make the other guy fight how you want to fight and fight your fight.”
“As long as you can control the action and as long as you can make it your fight, then you can control the fight. So, it’s a matter of taking the chess board and making it yours. That’s pretty much the name of the game.”
Teofimo Lopez gives tips for beating shakur stevenson after their clash
Teofimo Lopez was not discouraged at all by the lopsided nature of his loss to Shakur Stevenson and feels like he knows how to make the requisite moves to generate a vastly different outcome if he secured a seemingly sought-after sequel clash. During an interview with Boxing Highs, Teofimo Lopez touched upon the first fight, and what one could implement to have in-ring success versus Stevenson, Lopez stated [via Boxing News Online],
“It is not Shakur’s so-called fault, but in the fight he was stepping on my foot and elbowing me in-between those moments when we were clinching, but that is just what it was. He knows how to do one thing and one thing for sure. That is to create enough space to be where he needs to be at defensively. That, I can give him, he is very defensively sound. You have just got to make it a dirty fight, for anybody that wants to face him, you have just got to make it real dirty.”
