LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – CES Boxing and Top Rank welcome in the new year with a bang as they proudly announce a junior welterweight battle between WBO and Ring magazine champion Teofimo “The Takeover” Lopez (19-1, 13 KOs) and top contender Jamaine “The Technician” Ortiz (17-1-1, 8 KOs).
“Teofimo Lopez is among the best fighters in the world and always wants to fight the best available opponent,” said Top Rank chairman Bob Arum. “Jamaine Ortiz is a supreme talent who fits the bill.”
The bout is being promoted as “The Showman Returns,” and is set to take place on Thursday, February 8, live on ESPN during Super Bowl week at the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas.
“We are over the moon to be able to provide this opportunity to Jamaine,” said CES Boxing founder Jimmy Burchfield, Sr. “Jamaine has the talent, skills, and determination to beat a formidable champion in Teofimo Lopez. Jamaine has been waiting a long time for this, and I know that he will leave that ring a champion.”
“I’m excited to fight for the world title for the first time,” stated Ortiz. “It’s been a long time coming and I’m ready to bring the world title back to Massachusetts.”
The fight will be Lopez’s first defense of the titles he won at Madison Square Garden’s Theater in June of last year.
“February 8 at Mandalay Bay, ‘The Takeover’ will entertain inside that squared circle as only I can,” boasted Lopez. “Jamaine is tough. I would know, because I faced him back in the amateur days. 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. 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.”
Indeed, the protagonists are familiar with one another and have much in common. Each are Latin American fighters from the East Coast who fought as amateurs in 2015 with the National Golden Gloves title on the line. Lopez won that fight via decision before they each launched their pro careers in the lightweight division.
Not only have they fought one another, but they have also both shared the ring with the legendary Vasyl Lomachenko. While Lopez won a 12-round decision over “The Matrix” in October 2020 to pick up the IBF, WBA and WBO lightweight titles, Ortiz lost a close 12-round decision to Lomachenko two years later in a fight that the Ukrainian admitted was one of his toughest to date.
Since then, each fighter made their way to the junior welterweight division. Lopez is 3-0 at the weight, his biggest win coming last June in an outstanding 12-round decision over Josh Taylor for the WBO and Ring junior welterweight titles. Ortiz moved up to the 140-lb division 3 months later, winning a 10-round decision over tough Mexican veteran Antonio Moran.
This set the stage for a showdown between two of the top junior welterweights in the world.
“This is what boxing at its best is all about,” exclaimed Burchfield, Sr. “Two young fighters in their prime representing their heritage and their hometowns. It doesn’t get any better than that.”
Ortiz, a Worcester, MA native of Puerto Rican and Dominican heritage, is a technically gifted boxer with impressive wins over former world champion Jamel Herring, prospect Nahir Albright for the NABF title and the battle-tested contender Moran.
In Lopez, he’ll be challenging a two-division champion who, at 26, already boasts victories over three world champions in Richard Commey, Lomachenko and Taylor.
The Brooklyn-bred fighter of Honduran descent, who lost his lightweight titles to George Kambosos, Jr. in November 2021, erased any doubts about his commitment to the sport with the dominant win over Taylor at the Madison Square Garden Theater last year.
“This one is for all my people on the Takeover Express,” said Lopez. “Let’s show the world once again what real boxing looks like.”
A Teofimo in top form is exactly what Ortiz is hoping for to show the world what he is capable of.
“This is the most important fight of my career,” admitted The Technician. “I believe this fight will bring out the very best in me, and I’m looking forward to coming home as the new champion.”
On February 8th, the world is in for quite a show.
