Teofimo Lopez Promises To ‘Break Down’ Jamaine Ortiz
Teofimo Lopez aims to put on a stellar when he takes on Jamaine Ortiz on February 8th, 2024.
Lopez defends his WBO junior welterweight title for the first time after grabbing the belt against Josh Taylor. ‘The Takeover’ performed impressively to dominate the former undisputed 140-pound champion as Taylor suffered his first loss. Lopez aimed to make the biggest fights for the highest purses. However, talks with Ryan Garcia and Subriel Matias failed to result in a fight.
Instead, he faces Ortiz, who has his first fight at 140. Ortiz will move up from lightweight. He recently bounced back from his loss to Vasiliy Lomachenko with a win over Antonio Moran. Ortiz has been working with Bill Haney, which adds another intriguing element to the fight since his son Devin Haney has long been linked with a Lopez fight.
If Lopez comes out victorious, a unification with Haney could follow. Haney is the current WBC champion after dominating Regis Prograis to win the belt in his first fight at the weight class. But the focus for Lopez was on ensuring he got past Ortiz.
Lopez Vs. Ortiz
“February 8 at Mandalay Bay, ‘The Takeover’ will entertain inside that squared circle as only I can! To the boxing fans around the world, I look to not only dominate and break down Jamaine Ortiz, but to do it in such a fashion that my division will be put on alert.
“Jamaine is tough. I would know, because I faced him back in the amateur days in 2015 for the National Golden Gloves Championship. I’ll show the world that champions don’t flinch when faced with challenges. They rise and shine the brightest when the stakes are highest. This one is for all my people on the Takeover Express! Let’s show the world once again what real boxing looks like,” Haney said
Ortiz’s Chances
Ortiz will be a tough opponent if he can deal with the transition to 140. He is a former sparring partner to Lomachenko and troubled the Ukrainian for the first half of the fight. The Ukrainian would pull ahead in the latter part, but that has been the only loss in Ortiz’s career. He also has a win over Jamel Herring, the former WBO junior lightweight champion, showing he can compete at world level.
And Lopez has shown that he fights according to the level of opposition he faces. His performances against Sandor Martin and George Kambosos Jr. were poor. The win over Martin was accompanied by his comments, questioning if he still had what it took as he exclaimed, ‘Do I still have it?’ As for the Kambosos loss, Lopez lost in a major upset. Ortiz is not coming to make up the numbers.
“This is the most important fight of my career. It’s my first world title bout. I believe this fight will bring out the very best in me, and I’m looking forward to coming home as the new champion,” Ortiz stated
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