‘Go collect some belts’: Algieri explains why Teofimo should unify rather than move up in weight
Chris Algieri believes Teofimo Lopez may struggle fighting bigger guys at 147 as his power at 140 hasn’t seemed to translate.
Following Teofimo Lopez’s unanimous decision win over Steve Claggett over the weekend, Chris Algieri puts his analyst cap on and breaks down the performance and explains why Lopez should probably stay at 140 rather than proceed with a move up to welterweight. Check out some of Algieri’s thoughts down below.
Algieri on his reaction to Lopez’s win over Claggett
“Listen, Claggett brought a lot of will, was in great shape, showed a tremendous beard, took really good body shots. Teofimo impressed me with his output, he obviously came conditioned. He knew what he had in front of him — I did too, I actually predicted a decision, I know a lot of people were predicting a knockout.
“I think it would’ve been really important for him to make a statement to get that knockout but it wasn’t for not trying, that’s for sure. Claggett put on a tough performance but it’s just it was not an effective performance. (Claggett) was imposing his will but not being effective.”
On Lopez’s performance and where he goes from here
“He’s talking about going to 147 which I don’t really advise. He hasn’t shown that same power that he had at ‘35 at 140, so he’s 5-0 now at 140, he’s only got one KO and that was against Pedro Campa early on. Even that, it was more of an attrition than a single shot. So I think he has the opportunity to unify. I favor him over all the other champions in the weight class so I think it would a good idea for him to go collect some belts.”
On Claggett showing durability in the fight
“His chin was great and really he wasn’t showing much wear and tear either until those later rounds, the nose started to bleed, he got rocked a few times. I think he got hurt more often than we were able to see because he hid it well but he did really well, he’s got a lot of experience.”
On if Lopez has to change up his style if he wants to compete at 147
“Absolutely. Not only are the guys going to be bigger but he’s going to have to go 12 rounds every time and you don’t want those big guys thumping on you. You get a guy at 147 that does what Steve Claggett does, it’s going to be a very, very difficult night for Teofimo Lopez.
“But we saw that he has conditioning, he threw almost a thousand punches tonight, career high in terms of punches thrown, punches landed. So that other style could potentially be there and he showed that he does have the conditioning even though he’s an explosive guy.”