By Chris Williams: IBF lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez is putting in a lot of hard work in building up his upper body strength in preparing for his unification fight later this year against WBA/WBC/WBO 135-pound champion Vasily Lomachenko.
If Teofimo can maintain the muscle that he’s putting on for the Lomachenko fight, then he’ll have a good shot at beating him. It won’t matter how skilled Lomachenko is on the night. With the size and power that Teofimo has, he could blast Loma out with his shots.
Lomachenko will be facing the biggest puncher of his career
We can agree that Lomachenko has never fought anyone with the kind of power that Teofimo has, and it’s going to be an indoctrination for the two-time Olympic gold medalist. Although Lomachenko won two gold medals many years ago in the Olympics, it was in the smaller weight classes against non-punchers.
Teofimo Lopez looking massive
On Wednesday, the unbeaten Teofimo (15-0, 12 KOs) posted a video clip of him on social media doing pullups, and he looked massive for a lightweight. The amount of muscle that the 22-year-old Lopez is packing on brings the question of how will he deal with trimming down to the 135-pound limit?
Teofimo says he’s weighing in the mid-150s, and that’s without fat. So when it comes to him cutting weight, he’s going to be looking both muscle and water to make 135. When a fighter cuts 20-lbs, it can be a problem.
If they get it right, then they’ll have a significant advantage over their smaller opponents on the night of the fight. But when they get it wrong, you see them weak, tired, and not the same guy before they cut the weight.
An example of that is Roy Jones Jr, who cut down from 193 lbs to make 175 to face Antonio Tarver in 2003. Jones wasn’t strong at the weight after losing a lot of muscle.
“W A R R I O R M I N D S E T. I’m ready to beat any man up like I’m
The Rock,” said Teofimo Lopez on Twitter.
Hopefully, Lomachenko is putting in the same hard work in preparing for Teofimo because this could be a mismatch if he’s not been working during the lockdown. We don’t need to hear excuses if Lomachenko isn’t ready for this fight.
Excuses not needed
After Lomachenko’s loss to Orlando Salido in 2014, there was a lot of talk about how Salido was much bigger and that he rehydrated a great deal to have a weight advantage.
Salido came in a couple of pounds over the 126-lb limit at 128¼, but that’s not why he beat Lomachenko. He beat him by attacking him with body shots, and Lomachenko had never fought anyone like that in the amateur ranks.
Upper body strength on 💯
No fight date yet, but @TeofimoLopez is getting ready. 💪 pic.twitter.com/J5D01QQgsQ
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) June 18, 2020
As you can see, Teofimo is looking incredibly powerful right now, and it’s going to be tough for the aging Lomachenko to deal with that kind of size. If Teofimo can rehydrate to the 150s, it’ll take a masterful performance by Lomachenko to win. In baseball terms, Lomachenko might need to pitch a no-hitter for him to beat Teofimo.
With the size and power that Teofimo has, he could put Lomachenko to sleep for a little while if he connects with one of his big shots.
Will Lomachenko stand and fight?
Lomachenko needs to make a fight of it, and not spoil and run as we saw in his loss to Salido. For the boxing fans that are expecting Lomachenko to stand in front of Teofimo, using his high-volume punching style to force him to quit, they’re probably going to be disappointed. Lomachenko won’t risk fighting like that against a puncher like Teofimo.
Years ago, Lomachenko used to be able to force hard punchers like Nicholas Walters, Jason Sosa, Miguel Marriaga, and Guillermo Rigondeaux to quit. That was a long time ago, and those fights took place at 130. Teofimo is a HUGE 135-pounder, and he’s more like a 147-pounder on the night of his matches.
The power that Teofimo brings to the lightweight division is more than his opponents have seen, and that’s why he could be a real headache for the 32-year-old Lomachenko.
Teofimo is coming off of the biggest win of his career with his second-round knockout victory over IBF lightweight champion Richard Commey on December 14 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Commey, 32, never stood a chance in that fight after Teofimo dropped him with a right hand in the second round.
The shot came out of nowhere from Teofimo, and it Commey down hard. Commey got back up, but he didn’t have enough time to recover from the blow before Lopez overwhelmed him with punches to finish him off.
Teofimo with big advantages
- Youth
- Size
- Speed
- Power
- Punch resistance
- Stamina
Lomachenko is the better mover, and he’s got the advantage in experience and technical boxing skills. But when you get a guy with size, speed, and power of Teofimo, he can potentially negate Lomachenko’s functional ability with a single shot to the head.
Teofimo hasn’t said what his game plan would be for the Lomachenko fight, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see him attack his midsection. Salido showed that Lomachenko can’t take it to the body, and falls apart when hid downstairs.
Lomachenko spent the entire fight with Salido holding and trying to stall out the rounds. That’s why it was disappointing to hear Lomachenko make excuses afterward about Salido being heavier or landing occasional low shots. Salido lost because he couldn’t take it to the body.
That’s the reality of it. ‘Coming events cast their shadows before.’ In other words, don’t be surprised if Lomachenko makes excuses about Teofimo’s weight if he loses the fight to him. It’s predictable that Lomachenko will make excuses, but hopefully, he takes the high road and gives Teofimo credit.
Lomachenko likely to leave 135-lb division afterward
In the aftermath of the Lomachenko-Lopez fight, we’ll probably see Loma move back down to 130, and give up on fighting so-called bigger guys. The fighters aren’t bigger than Lomachenko at 135. They’re just taller in some cases, but Lomachenko had already shown that he can beat guys that have a size advantage over him when he defeated the 5’9″ Luke Campbell.
As for Teofimo, he’s already said that he’s going to be moving up to 140 after the Lomachenko fight to go after the belts at light-welterweight. There’s good money for Teofimo to make in the 140-lb weight class, and it’ll be easier for him to get fights. If Teofimo stays at 135, he would likely have no luck in getting these fighters to face him:
- Ryan Garcia
- Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis
- Devin Haney
