By Doug Berman: Top Rank is planning the Richard Commey (29-2, 26 KOs) vs. Teofimo Lopez (14-0, 11 KOs) for the undercard of Terence Crawford vs. Egidijus Kavaliauskas on December 14 on ESPN on December 14 at Madison Square Garden in New York. The Commey-Lopez fight still hasn’t been finalized yet, but it’s being worked on. This bout would be the co-feature fight with the Crawford-Kavaliauskas bout being the headliner.
Teofimo, 22, will be challenging Commey for his IBF lightweight title. The winner of that fight will be facing the winner of this Saturday’s contest between WBA/WBO 135-lb champion Vasiliy Lomachenko and Luke Campbell in a unification fight. All four titles will be up for grabs in that match.
Crawford defends against #1 WBO Kavaliauskas
WBO welterweight champion Crawford (35-0, 26 KOs) will be making a mandatory defense against #1 WBO Kavaliauskas (21-0-1, 17 KOs). It’s a lackluster fight that does nothing for Crawford’s career, but it keeps both guys busy. Top Rank promotes both fighters, so they’re taking care of two of their stable welterweights at once. For Crawford, it’s not going to progress his career, because he’s an 11-year pro, and he’s spinning his wheels fighting lesser guys like Amir Khan, Jeff Horn and Jose Benavidez.
Arum needs to be smart with his advertising to attract a crowd
Top Rank Boxing honcho Bob Arum is counting on fans watching the Crawford vs. Kavaliauskas fight after attending the nearby Heisman Trophy presentation in downtown New York City. With the huge crowds that will be around the city on December 14, it’s possible some fans will see the advertisement for the Crawford-Kavaliauskas fight outside Madison Square Garden, and they’ll want to see the match.
That might be wishful thinking on Arum’s part, however, because Crawford is from Nebraska, not New York. If Arum is clever, he’ll have the New Yorker Teofimo’s fight with Commey advertised outside of MSG instead of Crawford, who is doesn’t have a fan base in the East Coast. In hindsight, Arum should move the Crawford-Kavaliauskas to Omaha, Nebraska, which is Crawford’s hometown. He’s popular over there, but not in New York.
Commey vs. Lopez is arguably the far better fight than Crawford’s match against the 31-year-old Kavaliauskas. That fight is a mismatch. Kavaliauskas is coming off of a 10 round draw against Ray Robinson last March. A lot of boxing fans had Robinson winning the fight, but Kavaliauskas was the A-side fighter. Boxing News 24 had Robinson winning 8 rounds to 2. It was a one-sided fight. Crawford might as well be defending against Robinson, because he’s better than Kavaliauskas. The World Boxing Organization ordered the fight, so Crawford has to defend the belt.
Teofimo Lopez coming off career worst performance against Masayoshi Nakatani
In Teofimo’s last fight, he beat Masayoshi Nakatani (18-1, 12 KOs) on July 19 in an IBF lightweight title eliminator. Lopez looked horrible throughout the fight in winning a questionable 12 round unanimous decision. The boxing public had the fight scored as a draw or a win for Nakatani. The judges scored it for A-side fighter Teofimo won by the scores 118-110, 119-109 and 118-110. The scores looked like they were from a different fight than the one that took place that night. Even if they were reversed in favor or Nakatani, they still wouldn’t have been right. He looked like the winner, but not by those scores.
Things going to be different this time around.. #TheComeUp
— Teofimo Lopez (@TeofimoLopez) August 22, 2019
Lopez isn’t ready to be fighting for a world title against Commey or any of the belt holders. Top Rank would be better off letting Teofimo slowly develop before they match him against a world champion at 135. The problem is Lopez has already outgrown the lightweight division, and he’ll be moving up to 140 in 2020. It’s now or never for Arum in matching him against one of the champions at lightweight. Arum is throwing Teofimo into a fight that he probably isn’t ready for against Commey.