Teofimo Lopez (19-1, 13 KOs) defends his WBO light welterweight title for the first time against Jamaine Ortiz (17-1-1, 8 KOs) in a showcase fight in the main event, while lightweight contender Keyshawn Davis (9-0-1, 6 KOs) faces the fading veteran Jose Pedraza (27-4-1, 14 KOs) in a ten-round co-feature bout on February 8th at Michelob ULTRA Arena at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
ESPN, ESPN Deportes & ESPN+ will show the event starting at 10:30 ET.
Fan reaction is mixed about the Teofimo vs. Jamaine Ortiz fight, as it’s not the match-up they would have preferred for Teo. Jamaine lost to Vasily Lomachenko in 2022, which takes away much of the meaning of this fight.
Fans wanted Teofimo vs. Subriel Matias
People wanted to see the boasting Teofimo take on IBF light welterweight champion Subriel Matias, as he’d been talking up his interest in facing the powerful Puerto Rican slugger next.
Some fans are wondering if Teofimo lost his nerve after watching Matias destroy his last opponent, so instead, he opted for fringe contender Jamaine Ortiz, which is a weak choice, given that guys like Arnold Barboza Jr. and Gary Anuanne Russell were available to fight..
The only thing the 26-year-old Teofimo gains from fighting #11 WBO Ortiz, besides a paycheck, is to try and beat him better than Lomachenko did. That’s about it.
Keyshawn Davis vs. Jose ‘Sniper’ Pedraza
Lightweight contender Keyshawn Davis (9-0-1, 6 KOs) has a lot of proving to do against veteran Jose ‘Sniper’ Pedraza (29-5-1, 14 KOs) in their ten round co-feature bout on the February 8th card.
The 34-year-old former two-division world champion Pedraza hasn’t looked like his old self in the last three years, posting a poor record of 0-2-1 in his latest three fights, which tells you all you need to know about what the Keyshawn-Pedraza contest is all hout. This is a showcase fight to make Keyshawn look good.
Despite all the hype surrounding the 2020 U.S Olympian Keyshawn from fans, he was held to a ten round no contest in his previous fight against second-tier fighter Nahir Albright last October.
Top Rank should have run it back with Albright for Keyshawn instead of putting him in with Pedraza.
That was a very shaky performance from the 24-year-old Keyshawn, getting hurt by Albright and wilting under the pressure he put on him during the championship rounds.
It was a real eye-opener for boxing fans, who had mistakenly thought that Keyshawn’s amateur pedigree would translate over to success in the pro ranks. That style clearly doesn’t work.
On the undercard of Top Rank’s February 8th event, lightweight Emiliano Fernando Vargas (8-0, 7 KOs) will fight Tomas Ornelas (7-3, 5 KOs). Hopefully, this is a more competitive fight than Vargas’ last match.
The real talent on the undercard is lightweight Abdullah Mason (11-0, 9 KOs) who will battle unbeaten Benjamin Gurment (8-0-3, 5 KOs).
