Teófimo López Defeats Jarmaine Ortiz by Unanimous Decision to Keep Welterweight Title

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Teofimo Lopez Jr. successfully defended his WBO junior welterweight title with a unanimous decision over Jamaine Ortiz on Thursday night from the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas.

It wasn’t the prettiest performance from the 140-pound champion, but he was able to get the nod from all three judges’ scorecards.

Ortiz proved to be an interesting opponent in the early rounds. He came out in a southpaw stance and was able to make Lopez work for any offense he could get.

He continued to be a thorn in Lopez’s side early in the fight. He answered an early challenge from the champion and was more than happy to bring some pressure:

As the fight went into the middle rounds, the narrative shifted from a hot start for Ortiz to legitimate concern that he might have Lopez’s number.

Ortiz continued his brilliant gameplan into the late rounds. He frustrated Lopez with his constant movement. While he didn’t mount much offense of his own, he neutralized Lopez’s offense and controlled the fight.

Analysts and fans weren’t impressed with Lopez’s performance:

Lopez might have snuck away with a win, but this wasn’t the kind of performance he’ll want to be remembered for. Neither fighter had much offense.

The 26-year-old has officially earned and defended world titles in two weight classes now. Lopez beat Vasiliy Lomachenko back in October 2020 to defend his IBF lightweight title while taking Loma’s WBA and WBO belts.

However, he followed up that signature victory with the only loss of his career, a split decision loss to George Kambosos Jr. He followed that up with three wins that were more competitive than expected against questionable competition, but really turned things around with a one-sided win over Josh Taylor in 2023.

Ortiz represented a bit of a step down from Taylor, but he was still a respectable opponent. He came into the bout with a 17-1-1 record with a close fight against Lomachenko.

It was important for the champion because Lopez has bigger aspirations of taking on even bigger fights and climbing even higher on those pound-for-pound lists. He recently called for a fight against pound-for-pound king Terence Crawford who reigns at 147 pounds.

“I just had to remind him I’m the biggest cat in the world, absolutely and because of that we face fighters, great champions and I look forward to facing a fighter like him after this fight [against Jamaine Ortiz] however that pursues itself,” he told Sky Sports.

Moving up a weight class to take on the best fighter in the world is certainly a lofty goal and he might want to reconsider it after this disappointing performance.

Crawford was rather dismissive in a two-word explicit response to Lopez’s challenge, but there are other big fights for Lopez if “Bud” isn’t interested. Devin Haney is lurking as the WBC champion at 140 pounds and the two haven’t met despite both previously holding belts at 135.

Lopez might still want the biggest fights the sport has to offer, but this bout should give him reason for pause.