The Teofimo Lopez boxing record is not one to be dismissed and he will be looking to add another win on Thursday. After losing his unified lightweight titles in 2021, Lopez moved up to light welterweight and finally got his hands on a world championship in June 2023. Now, he has to defend his throne.
Ortiz shocked the world after winning the WBO title when he announced that he plans to retire at 25. As this came as a surprise to everyone, including the WBO Championships Committee, a month later, the organization gave him 24 hours to decide his future. Eventually, he declared that he intended to continue his reign and postpone his retirement.
With a clear goal in his head, he returns in 2024 to make the first step towards his target which is a unification bout against Devin Haney.
Who is Teofimo Lopez?
Born in Brooklyn, New York, the American is 26 years old and has been a professional boxer since 2016.
In just seven years on the pro scene, the Teofimo Lopez boxing record grew to an impressive 19-1, including 13 knockouts. Unlike his upcoming opponent, Lopez has been fighting at the highest level since almost the start.
He won his first world title in 2019 at the age of 22 when he beat Richard Commey for the IBF lightweight belt. Immediately after, he unified that title with the WBA (Super) and WBO lightweight titles when he beat Vasily Lomachenko.
Unfortunately, his reign was short and he lost the titles in his next bout, which was also his first and only career defeat. His next move was to change his weight class and start performing in light welterweight, which ultimately led to his triumph for the WBO world title in June 2023.
Teofimo Lopez Amateur Career
According to unconfirmed reports, Teofimo Lopez had a wild amateur career that spanned at least 170 fights. The record we were able to find suggests that he had 150 wins and 20 losses.
We can confirm that he did fight in multiple US National Youth Championships and US National Golden Gloves and he even won the latter in 2015.
He actually won the Olympic Trials and would have fought representing the United States if the only lightweight entry was not already occupied by a different fighter. Nevertheless, Lopez reached the Olympics in 2016 when he represented Honduras.
We can’t confirm or deny his 150-20 record but if the data exists nearly a decade later, we can assume that it is correct.
Jamaine Ortiz Professional Career
The Teofimo Lopez bio continues with a few more words about his professional career and his growth into one of the most successful young fighters in the whole world.
The reasons for him wanting to retire are unclear but we are glad that he found a new goal to motivate him to continue. His next target is a match against Devin Haney, who is the current WBC light welterweight champion. The American is undefeated with 31 wins in his career and he has not yet shown interest in fighting Lopez.
This means that Lopez has to win on Thursday and do it decisively. He has to earn that big contract and we feel that a decision win would not help him get that fight. Jamaine Ortiz is a promising youngster but completely inexperienced at this level. Lopez has to dig deep and bring out his knockout power for this one.
Teofimo Lopez Bio
While it is not shown on the Teofimo Lopez boxing record, he actually beat Ortiz nearly a decade ago. The two teenagers clashed in the 2015 Golden Gloves final when Lopez won the short three-round match. It is strange how different their careers have been since then and how much Lopez achieved.
This is a chance for Lopez to get a knockout win – something that has become a rarity in recent years. Back in the day, he was putting every opponent to sleep but as the level of his opposition grew, it became clear that he is not that powerful.
Nevertheless, his style wins fights and this is what matters. He is an aggressive fighter, who relies on heavy combinations and long series of punches. He won over 65% of his fights via KO/TKO but most of those were in the early days. His last couple of wins came through UD/SD.
This will be the first world title match for Ortiz while Lopez has been fighting for world titles since 2019. On paper, Lopez should win this fight comfortably and this is what bookmakers believe too. He is a huge betting favorite and it is not even worth putting any money on his moneyline.
Vlad is a former amateur MMA fighter. After a series of injuries, he found a different way to connect with the sport and its fanbase - through writing. He's been covering everything-UFC for over 5 years on various platforms and has been part of the team at NYFights since early 2022.
