The official weights are in for tomorrow’s bad-blood fight between defending WBO and Ring Magazine 140-pound champ Josh Taylor and challenger, former unified lightweight champ Teofimo Lopez. Champion Taylor came in at 139.8 pounds, while challenger Lopez, having to strip naked, came in at 140 on the nose.
Both men looked ripped and in terrific shape. Weighing-in behind a curtain, Lopez had to listen to chants of “You fat b*****d” from some fans. But Lopez made the weight, and after doing so, he showed his defiance, as did his father and trainer (giving the middle finger of both hands to those fans who had called his son names!)
There was no actual face-off between the two, but the two men did glare at each other from opposite sides of the stage. Taylor said to Lopez that he is “finished,” while Lopez wore an expression that said it all – the dislike between these two seemed to be for real. Lopez didn’t blink as he stared Taylor down. This was no actual face-off, yet the tension in the air was palpable. It was tense.
Taylor really did seem to be trying to get to Lopez, held back as he was by security. Lopez, who has said some truly disgraceful things about wanting to take Taylor’s life in the run-up to the fight, smoldered, but he managed to remain calm.
To repeat, both men looked to be in great physical condition, and Lopez, though he may well have struggled to make the 140-pound limit, did not appear to be drained or weakened in any way. We could get a great fight tomorrow in New York, this in a fight that some have said has not been sufficiently hyped.
But who wins? Plenty of people are picking Taylor, 19-0(13), and plenty of people are picking Lopez, 18-1(13). Both men are coming off less than impressive showings, Taylor getting the controversial decision in his fight with Jack Catterall 15 long months ago, Lopez getting off the floor to win a split decision over Sandor Martin in December.
The pick here is for Taylor to win via close decision. However, both men have predicted a KO win. We shall soon see.
Weights:
• Josh Taylor 139.8 lbs. vs. Teofimo Lopez 140 lbs
(Taylor’s WBO and Ring Magazine Junior Welterweight World Titles — 12 Rounds)
Judges: Steve Gray, Joe Pasquale and Benoit Roussel
Referee: Michael Griffin
• Xander Zayas 152.8 lbs vs. Ronald Cruz 152.4 lbs
(Zayas’ NABO & NABF Junior Middleweight Titles — 8 Rounds)
(ESPN+, 6:15 p.m. ET/3:15 p.m. PT)
• Robson Conçeicão 130.6 lbs vs. Nicolas Polanco 130 lbs
(Junior Lightweight — 10 Rounds)
• Omar Rosario 139.2 lbs vs. Jan Carlos Rivera 138.4 lbs
(Junior Welterweight— 8 Rounds)
• Damian Knyba 261.4 lbs vs. Helaman Olguin 256.8 lbs
(Heavyweight — 8 Rounds)
• Bruce Carrington 126.8 lbs vs. Luis Porozo 126.4 lbs
(Featherweight — 8 Rounds)
• Henry Lebron 129.2 lbs vs. Carlos Ramos 129.6 lbs
(Junior Lightweight — 10 Rounds)
* The Jamaine Ortiz-Humberto Galindo fight was canceled as Ortiz was unable to make the weight.
Jamaine Ortiz explains circumstances that led to withdrawal from Galindo bout
Jamaine Ortiz was forced to pull out of his fight against Humberto Galindo. This withdrawal happened due to an injury he sustained during his training camp, which significantly hindered his weight-loss process.
Ortiz expressed his disappointment at the situation. He shared, “I had a back injury a couple of weeks back that disrupted my usual training routine. For three weeks, I experienced intense back spasms which impeded my training efforts. Once I felt a bit better, I tried to train intensely to make up for the lost time, but I reached a point where I couldn’t shed the remaining weight.”
The 27-year-old Ortiz, who diligently follows a systematic diet plan, explained his struggles with his weight cut following the injury. “The weight loss plan that my dietician has put me on is usually quite effective, but this time, due to the amount of weight I had to shed after recovering from the injury, I wasn’t able to adhere to it effectively.”
