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- What: WBO and The Ring junior welterweight title fight
- Who: Teofimo Lopez vs. Steve Claggett
- Date: Saturday, June 29 2024
- Time: 10:00 p.m. ET
- Location: James L. Knight Center in Miami, Florida
- How to Watch: ESPN
Teofimo Lopez puts his WBO and The Ring junior welterweight titles on the line against Steve Claggett on Saturday, June 29. The fight takes place at the James L. Knight Center in Miami, Florida, and will be carried by ESPN. This is a homecoming of sorts for Lopez, who grew up in South Florida. Here is some background on the fighters before we discuss, in detail, the betting breakdown of the Teofimo Lopez vs. Steve Claggett title fight.
Teofimo Lopez (20-1 with 13 knockouts) scored a unanimous decision victory over Josh Taylor in June 2023. With that victory, Lopez won the WBO and The Ring junior welterweight titles. He defended those titles in February with a decision win over Jamaine Ortiz. Lopez earned the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and The Ring lightweight titles in 2020 with a win over Vasiliy Lomachenko. He lost those belts to George Kambosos in November 2021. Lopez is 3-0 since his loss to Kambosos. He is currently the top-ranked 140-pound boxer, according to The Ring.
Steve Claggett (38-7-2 with 26 KOs) was a surprise booking to many for this fight. He is the No. 10 ranked junior welterweight in the WBO, and unranked by The Ring. Claggett is coming off a KO win over Marcos Gonzalez Barraza in January. Claggett went 4-0 with two knockouts in 2023.
Before we look at the junior welterweight title fight between Teofimo Lopez and Steve Claggett, check out the best boxing betting sites, where you can find the best boxing picks.
Teofimo Lopez vs. Steve Claggett betting picks
| Fighters |  |  |  |  |
| Teofimo Lopez | -1000 | -1000 | -1000 | -1099 |
| Steve Claggett | +600 | +600 | +600 | +510 |
Teofimo Lopez betting breakdown
The defending champion, Teofimo Lopez, has good head movement and is mostly sound defensively, but he fights with a low lead hand, which gives his opponent, especially one with fast hands, the chance to connect with a lot of jabs. Lopez also tends to leap on his punches, which puts him on an unsteady base. Another liability of Lopez is his tendency to leave himself open for power punches by blocking his opponent’s lead hand with his own lead hand.
On the offensive side of the ledger, Lopez has speed, power, athleticism, a strong chin, the ability to put combinations together, is comfortable at range or in close. He is also an extremely talented and confident fighter when his mind is right. Lopez was an elite fighter at lightweight, and he is now an elite fighter at junior welterweight.
The one question that might come up concerning Lopez is his mindset. He announced his retirement from boxing not long after he defeated Taylor, and he openly wondered about his place in boxing following his loss to Kambosos. No matter how well Lopez performs in his most recent fight, there are always questions about how invested he is in his next outing.
Steve Claggett betting breakdown
The 34-year-old Steve Claggett is not a household name, but he is on a nine-fight winning streak, and he has a recent third-round TKO win over former world champion Alberto Machado. This is an enormous opportunity for the Canadian as it is his first fight for a world title.
Claggett is a pressure fighter, so expect him to move forward and take the fight to the champion from the opening bell. Claggett has power in his hands, he fights well behind his jab, and he does a good job when he fights in close. What stands out about Claggett is his heart and resiliency. The challenger will have trouble dealing with Lopez’s movement and technical acumen.
What makes Claggett dangerous in this matchup is that he has nothing to lose. He will look to leave everything he has in the ring against Lopez, and that’s the recipe for an upset.
Best bets for Teofimo Lopez vs. Steve Claggett
Steve Claggett has nothing to lose against Teofimo Lopez. The same cannot be said about Lopez. A loss to Claggett will effectively end Lopez’s chances of scoring big-money fights in the future, and there are a lot of those available for the 26-year-old. Adding importance to this fight for Lopez is that it is taking place in front of a crowd that will be almost exclusively Lopez fans. The betting pick is for Teofimo Lopez to defeat Steve Claggett by knockout. However, there is betting value in picking Claggett for an upset win with a small wager, considering the lopsided betting odds.
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