Teofimo Lopez is well aware of the challenges Jamaine Ortiz could present when they fight February 8 in Las Vegas.

Lopez and Ortiz have history from the time when these contemporaries were accomplished amateurs. The WBO junior welterweight champion knows Ortiz has the additional motivation during training camp to avenge his points loss to Lopez nearly nine years ago in an important amateur match.

The 26-year-old Lopez, who then fought out of South Florida, beat Ortiz in the 132-pound final at the 2015 National Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions in Las Vegas. The stakes will be higher during Super Bowl week next month in Las Vegas, where Lopez and Ortiz will headline an ESPN broadcast from Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino’s Michelob ULTRA Arena.

FanDuel installed Lopez as an 8-1 favorite, but Lopez considers Ortiz a more formidable foe than that.

“Great fighter,” Lopez told a group of reporters during the Vergil Ortiz Jr.-Fredrick Lawson card Saturday night at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. “You know, me and him faced each other back in the national Golden Gloves back in 2015, in the finals. So, I know I got a tough fight ahead of me. You know, it’s not a walkover. You know, this guy is very elusive. He’s a technician, like they say, so he gave Loma a run for his money. So, I gotta stay on my toes.”

The 27-year-old Ortiz (17-1-1, 8 KOs), of Worcester, Massachusetts, strengthened his reputation within the boxing world when he got off to a strong start against Lomachenko in October 2022 in a main event ESPN aired from The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York. The three-division champion from Ukraine eventually found his rhythm and beat Ortiz on the scorecards of judges Frank Lombardi (117-111), Mark Consentino (116-112) and John McKaie (115-113).

Ortiz has fought only once since his loss to Lomachenko (17-3, 11 KOs), when he beat Mexican veteran Antonio Moran (29-6-1, 20 KOs) almost four months ago. The skillful Ortiz was hurt twice by Moran – first by a left hook to his head in the second round and then by a body shot in the fifth round.

A resilient Ortiz responded by nearly knocking out Moran toward the end of the fifth round. He completely controlled the action thereafter and judges Chris Flores (99-91), Robert Hoyle (98-92) and Steve Weisfeld (97-93) scored Ortiz the convincing winner of their 10-rounder September 15 at American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas.

The Brooklyn-born Lopez will make his first defense of the WBO junior welterweight title he won from former undisputed 140-pound champ Josh Taylor nearly seven months ago.

Scotland’s Taylor (19-1, 13 KOs) entered the ring as about a 2-1 favorite June 10, but a motivated, sharp Lopez soundly defeated him and became a two-weight world champion by unanimously winning on the scorecards. Judges Benoit Roussel (117-111), Steve Gray (115-113) and Joseph Pasquale (115-113) all scored Lopez the winner of a 12-round main event ESPN televised from The Theater at Madison Square Garden.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.