Teofimo Lopez vs Jamaine Ortiz Reported for Super Bowl Week
Teofimo Lopez Jr.(19-1) is set to return to the boxing ring during Super Bowl Week 2024, as per a report.
Mike Coppinger of ESPN reported that Lopez, the reigning WBO Super Lightweight Champion, is set to clash with Jamaine Ortiz(17-1-1) on February 8, 2024. Coppinger also added that Jose Ramirez was first offered the fight against Lopez, but opted not to take it.
The date falls 3 days before Super Bowl LVIII on February 11 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, NV. As per Sam Gordon of Review Journal, Lopez vs Ortiz will take place at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob Ultra Arena in the same city.
In a move similar to this, Top Rank held Shakur Stevenson vs Edwin De Los Santos in November before the F1 in Las Vegas race that weekend.
Lopez defeated then-unbeaten Josh Taylor to win WBO title in 140 lbs division in June earlier this year. This was his third fight in the super lightweight division after he lost unified lightweight titles to George Kambosos Jr. in November 2021. The other two wins in the division came against Pedro Campa and Sandor Martin.
Ortiz suffered his first career loss to Vasyl Lomachenko in October 2022 via unanimous decision. He has since bounced back with a win over Antonio Moran in September this year on the undercard of Luis Alberto Lopez vs Joet Gonzalez event.
Teofimo Lopez Jr. is also reportedly in talks for a super lightweight title unification bout against Subreil Matias in June 2024. Matias is the reigning IBF Super Lightweight Champion. But first, Lopez will have to get past Ortiz, it seems.
