When we arrived at the Underdog gym on Sainte-Catherine Street on Friday, Steve Claggett was sitting at ringside. His gaze is focused on a small notebook. He reads it very carefully. Despite the ambient noise, he is imperturbable.
No, he’s not looking at the instructions for assembling an IKEA piece of furniture or checking the time of the next rebroadcast of Pepper and Salt on ARTV. Instead, he rereads the notes he took on his next opponent. As he does in anticipation of each of his fights. Strengths and weaknesses, strategies, techniques, methods to distract your rival… Everything goes.
“It’s something my dad taught me when I was little: ‘Write it down! You can’t remember everything, so write it down, because you can review it later.’ So I spend a lot of time going over my notes,” Claggett explained after his workout.
His next opponent, in this case, is Teófimo López (20-1, 13 KOs) and happens to be the current World Boxing Organization (WBO) super-lightweight champion. The two men will cross swords on June 29 in Miami. Claggett (38-7-2, 26 KOs) will then be in his first career world championship fight.
Regardless of the outcome of this clash, it will be something of an apotheosis for Claggett. The 35-year-old pugilist had to work hard, very hard to get there. Because nothing, initially, suggested that the Calgary native would one day have the opportunity to get his hands on a world title.
In his professional debut in 2008, and in the years that followed, it was not uncommon for Claggett to learn at the last minute the identity of the man he would face in the ring. And without a promoter worthy of the name to help him gain momentum, his career stagnated for a long time.
That was until Eye of the Tiger Management invited him to Montreal in 2017 to fight Yves Ulysse fils, then a rising star in Quebec boxing. Some expected an easy victory for the Quebecer. However, it was Claggett who emerged victorious, by split decision.
He made such a strong impression that two years later, the promoter invited him again to Quebec to face Mathieu Germain, at the Montreal Casino. An epic battle, which ended in a draw. The two men did it again in 2021, and this time, Germain had the upper hand.
Stung in his pride, Claggett remembered the adage “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.” He therefore called on Mike Moffa, Germain’s trainer, to guide him in his destiny.
“It was very difficult for me because I have my pride,” he says. “I didn’t want to, but I knew I had to.”
Finally, in 2022, Eye of the Tiger announced that it was officially recruiting Claggett to its team. The fight against Teófimo López will be his ninth in Camille Estephan’s stable. He has been undefeated since then.
“I’m at a point in my life where I’ve invested everything I have into this sport,” says Claggett. I don’t know if I’m lucky or unlucky, but I don’t have a wife or children. It’s because of his time spent in boxing. I put my whole life into this. »
When the opportunity to face López presented itself, Claggett was the only boxer to raise his hand. Needless to say, he will land in Miami, largely overlooked by punters. Which isn’t exactly likely to annoy him.
Within his team, we believe that he has all the necessary assets to cause what would be, let’s face it, a huge surprise.
“[Steve] breaks his opponents with the volume of punches he throws. […] If Lopez comes at us, it makes life easier for Steve. If he moves and has to counterattack, I think he’s going to get burned and we’re going to be able to break him towards the end of the fight,” says Giuseppe Moffa, son of Mike Moffa, who will be in Claggett’s corner for this duel.
“I see the comments, the United States is not a big fan of Steve,” Moffa continues. But I think all Teófimo fans will become Steve fans after this fight. »
“I’ve worked for this my whole life,” says Claggett. Not just in my boxing life, but in my life in general. I always wanted to do something big. Now is my chance. »
We will therefore know within a week to what extent all the work done by Steve Claggett in his life as a boxer will have paid off.