By Keith Idec
Teofimo Lopez realizes the importance of his fight Saturday night.
The powerful lightweight will box better opponents than John Delperdang as his career advances. One of boxing’s top prospects understands, though, that by defeating Delperdang impressively he’ll create demand from fans to see more of him on ESPN.
The 20-year-old Lopez’s eight-rounder against Delperdang will be broadcast by ESPN News (9 p.m. ET) as part of the Gilberto Ramirez-Habib Ahmed undercard at Bank of America Center in Corpus Christi, Texas.
“Once they see me February 3rd, on ESPN News, people are gonna wanna see more of Teofimo Lopez. This is huge,” Lopez told BoxingScene.com. “I know the magnitude of this fight alone.”
If Lopez (7-0, 6 KOs) wins and doesn’t suffer a cut or an injury Saturday night, he is tentatively scheduled to return to the ring March 17 in The Theater at Madison Square Garden. He would face Will Madera (11-0-1, 5 KOs), of Albany, New York, in another eight-rounder on the Jose Ramirez-Amir Imam undercard.
The 25-year-old Delperdang (10-4, 9 KOs), of Escondido, California, has lost three straight fights, but he has been stopped just once since he turned pro in July 2015.
“This guy is no pushover,” said Lopez, who’s promoted by Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc. “This guy fought Hank Lundy and went 12 rounds with him. They’re gonna say I fought a bum, but the way I’m gonna perform that night, of course it’s gonna make him look like a bum. But this guy’s no pushover. I don’t take no opponent lightly. At the end of the day, one punch can change the fight, and we’ve seen that happen before. So I’m not gonna take him lightly. But I’m gonna kick his ass.”
The importance of taking full advantage of ESPN exposure isn’t lost on the confident Lopez, a Las Vegas resident who fought for Honduras at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
“Look at the NBA, look at the NFL, baseball, golf, tennis – everything is always on ESPN,” Lopez said. “That’s how you create a big fan base and get more eyes on you. Top Rank knows what they’re doing. They knew this was gonna be a huge deal if it went through. They’re averaging [millions] of viewers. … It’s a huge opportunity for us young, upcoming fighters. This is just gonna create more fans for us. And it’s free. No offense to HBO or Showtime, but you’ve gotta subscribe to it and you’ve gotta pay more money for it. ESPN is the total package and it’s a great move not only for Top Rank, but for us fighters.”
The main event between Mexico’s Ramirez (36-0, 24 KOs) and Ghana’s Ahmed (25-0-1, 17 KOs), a 12-rounder for Ramirez’s WBO super middleweight title, will headline a doubleheader on ESPN that’s scheduled to start at 10:15 p.m. ET.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
