By Sean Jones: Teofimo Lopez is confident that after he ‘beats’ Vasily Lomachenko, he’ll eventually face Devin Haney, Ryan Garcia, and Gervonta Davis. Lopez sees a lot of different options available to him in the future against those fighters as well as other guys from the 135 and 140-lb division.
He says he’ll fight all three of them, but they may need to come up to 140 to make it happen. That’s where Lopez (15-0, 12 KOs) is heading after he battles Lomachenko for the undisputed lightweight championship.
One thing Lopez isn’t talking about is what his plans will be if he loses badly to Lomachenko. Going up in weight to 140 off of an embarrassing loss to Lomachenko won’t be the best way to leave the 135-lb division. Right now, Lopez is riding high off the back of his 2nd round knockout win over IBF lightweight champion Richard Commey.
Lopez may be in for a rude awakening when he gets inside the ring with WBA/WBC/WBO lightweight champion Lomachenko (14-1, 10 KOs), and he finds out he’s a lot better than he thought he would be.
Teofimo confident the big fights will happen
“Those fights are going to happen,” said Teofimo to Fighthype when asked about his interest in facing Devin Haney, Gervonta Davis, and Ryan Garcia. “It’s just that whether they’re willing to take it or not. It’s on their end. I got to have the other person agree with it in order for us to dance and bang it out.
“I don’t care whether it’s Tank Davis, Devin Haney, or Ryan Garcia. All of those guys I’ll eventually face and beat them. I’m the world champion now, so it’s like don’t take away what I just earned for someone I’m about to face ith three belts.
“After the fight with Lomachenko, I’ll go straight to Jose Ramirez, Josh Taylor or Devin Haney or Ryan Garcia or Gervonta Davis. The list goes on and on. I can keep going on. Or Luck Campbell, or Jorge Linares. There’s a lot of fights that I can make,” said Teofimo.
It’s so early that you can’t predict whether Teofimo will take on Garcia, Tank, Haney, and the rest of the top guys. Look at it this way. If Teofimo gets beaten by Lomachenko, and then he’s immediately schooled by Josh Taylor or Jose Ramirez, then his plans will be dashed.
Top Rank will take Teofimo back to square one, and start feeding him fodder level opposition to TRY and rebuild his career. It might work, but it might not.
Teofimo hasn’t fought anyone good yet, and he acts like he’s an old salt in boxing. He’s not. The best fighter that Teofimo has fought during his four-year career is Richard Commey, and he’s not that good of a fighter. After Commey, the next best guy on Teofimo’s resume is Masayoshi Nakatani. He’s not an elite fighter either.
Devin Haney fight will happen – Teofimo
“Yeah, that fight is going to happen, I guarantee it’s going to happen,” said Teofimo on a fight with Devin Haney. “There’s no way around it. The only way it doesn’t happen is by him losing and the way he loses. Other than that, the fight is happening.
“I’m just waiting for him [Haney] to have an actual fight with someone, and what I mean is someone with a pulse. They’re putting him in with these guys that are ranked #30. Not even the top 20 guys. It’s sad. The fight will happen. It’s about, you’re a world champion but not technically a world champion, but who have you fought?
“Name at least one dude that you fought where people can say, ‘Damn, that was a messed up dude that you beat. I give you props.’ I haven’t seen that yet in him.
“I at least have one or two under my belt, and that’s about it. But we’re working on getting three and four, five and six, you know?” said Lopez.
Teofimo is kidding himself in saying that he’s got more names on his resume than Haney. They both haven’t fought anyone good as of yet, and you can’t say one guy has a better resume than the other.
Haney’s last opponent Alfredo Santiago would likely beat Commey and the rest of the fighters on Teofimo’s resume. If Teofimo wants to kid himself and live in a make-believe world where he thinks he’s fought great opposition, then he’s going to in for a shock when he starts facing the talented opposition.
There’s nothing wrong with Teofimo having fought weak opposition his entire career because he’s only 22. But for him to by pointing at Haney and saying he hasn’t fought anyone talented, it makes shim look hypocritical to the extreme.
Lopez says Haney fight could happen at 140
“Yeah, those fights will happen,” said Teofimo. “Me and Devin may not be at 135. It may be at 140 because we’re both still growing, and I think that’ll eventually happen. It’s like with Errol Spence and Terence Crawford.
“It’s the same thing. That’s eventually going to happen, so you just have to wait on it and see. It’ll be a lot quicker than this. We’ll fight each other a lot sooner than people expect it to be. So don’t worry about it. I don’t know how they’re going to play it out.
“Maybe this is just a gimmick with them calling out people’s names, and not really asking for it. Or they’re calling people out, and they’re going to do it. I don’t know. My thing is, it will happen, and we’ll make sure it happens.
“Now, all we need to do is wait on your side. Are you going to make it happen with us? Are we going to finalize it finally and do it, or are you just talking ***.’ said Teofimo.
Haney (24-0, 15 KOs) is likely going to hang out as long as he can at 135 until he faces Ryan Garcia, Tank Davis, and Lomachenko. It might be another two years before Haney moves up in weight to 140 because the money fights for him are at 135.
Once Haney has exhausted them, he’ll move up to 140. There’s no rush for Haney to move up to 140 because the top fighters in that weight class are with Top Rank Boxing. Will Top Rank boss Bob Arum let Haney fight his best guys at 140? I’d say that’s a big NO. As such, Haney is better off staying at 135 and facing the fighters in that weight class.
Teofimo gushes about Ryan Garcia’s talent
“That mother f**** can fight. He’s the best of all time,” said Teofimo about Ryan Garcia. “He’s nice, man. First things first, we get this fight [against Lomachenko] over with, and then we can go from there and see what happens. It’s never going to stop.
“When I beat Lomachenko, ‘So, are you going to fight Devin Haney next? When are you going to face Ryan Garcia? Are you going to 140? Are you going to face Jose Ramirez? Who are you facing, Mr. Lopez?’ That’s just how it’s going to be. It is though [a beautiful journey] because they just keep wanting to watch me fight,” said Lopez.
Teofimo wasn’t serious when complimenting Ryan. By this time in the interview, Teofimo looked tired like he wanted to take a nap, and he wasn’t interested in talking about fighters like Ryan.
Teofimo does need to focus on the Lomachenko fight because if he loses that match, it’s going to be a big blow to his career. Right now, Teofimo is where Jeff Lacy was at before he got exposed. Before Lacy lost his first fight, he looked sensational in obliterating the over-matched fodder that his promoters were feeding him.
But once Lacy stepped up against Joe Calzaghe, he was humiliated, and his career was never the same. This could happen to Teofimo as well when he faces Lomachenko.
