By Chris Williams: Teofimo Lopez Sr says Shakur Stevenson should not fight Vasily Lomachenko right now because it’ll end badly for him. Teofimo Sr feels that Lomachenko (14-2, 10 KOs) is still way too good for the 23-year-old former WBO featherweight champion Stevenson (15-0, 8 KOs), and if he faces him in 2021, he’ll lose.
Stevenson has made news recently with his comments about a fight against Lomahenko being an easy one for him.
But at the same time. Shakur isn’t saying he wants to fight him anytime soon, as he’s targeting the winner of the Jamel Herring vs. Carl Frampton fight.
If Stevenson wins that contest, he says he wants to face WBC super featherweight champion Miguel Berchelt.
Stevenson is coming off a dull 10 round unanimous decision win over second-tier fighter Toka Kahn Clary (28-3, 1 KOs) on December 12th. It was a typical performance by Shakur, who mostly threw single shots, showing very little power.
The hand speed was at the medium level. For a highly hyped fighter, Stevenson doesn’t stand out on offense. His specialty is not getting hit, and he does this by jumping back every time he delivers a shot.
Teofimo Sr wouldn’t let Shakur face Lomachenko
“It’s a dangerous fight right now for Shakur Stevenson,” Teofimo Sr. said to Fighthype about it not being a good idea for him to face Lomachenko.
“I would not let [him]. I would tell Shakur, ‘Do not take this fight,’ even though he says he would make the fight look easier than my son did with him.
“Styles make fights, and I don’t consider Shakur Stevenson being able to beat Lomachenko. I think Lomachenko can come back and get a tough fight right away because that fight he had with my son made him a better fighter, that’s what I believe.
“Trust me, Lomachenko will beat Shakur [Stevenson], will beat Devin [Haney], and will beat Tank, easy,” Teofimo Sr continued. “I know, you know why I know? Because Lomachenko isn’t going to be scared of their punch power.
“Lomachenko is going to go straight right to the fight, he’s going to dominate, and Lomachenko has got a lot of tricky figures in him., a lot of punches that come from different angles for these kids,” Teofimo Sr added.
With the way Stevenson fights, it would be a terrible idea for Top Rank promoter Bob Arum to throw him in with an experienced volume puncher like Lomachenko. Stevenson doesn’t throw enough punches, he doesn’t hit hard enough, and his hand speed is too slow.
Shakur is like another Floyd Mayweather Jr if you were to slow him down to one-quarter speed and make him ultra-defensive.
That style would be completely ineffective against Lomachenko, who would tag Shakur with machine-gun-like shots the entire fight, and likely force him to quit.
Arum is trying to turn Stevenson into a star, so he’s not going to let him fight Lomachenko and watch him get beat.
I don’t think Arum realizes yet that Shakur lacks the ingredients needed for him to become a superstar, and he’s going to end up with another Terence Crawford.
In other words, like Crawford, Stevenson will be rated highly by the nerdy ultra-hardcore stat-freak type boxing fans and will wind up on the pound-for-pound lists, but this won’t transfer over to him becoming a pay-per-view star.
Stevenson’s fighting style of too boring to watch. Him, Devin Haney, and Crawford all having dull styles, and it’s unlikely that they’ll even become popular with the casual boxing fans.
Teofimo is coming to take everybody
“It’s so freaking crazy that people are saying that Lomachenko was underrated and that Lomachenko was not supposed to be this great killer that everybody made him out to look like only because my son beat him,” said Teofimo Sr
“We’re here to stay and you guys better get used to us because ‘The takeover’ is in effect, baby. We’re coming, we’re coming to take you and we’re coming to take everybody. We ain’t going nowhere. The takeover, baby,” said Teofimo Sr.
It sounds like Teofimo Lopez will be moving up to 140 before he ever gets a chance to fight Ryan Garcia, Gervonta Davis, and Devin Haney. Teofimo has already outgrown the 135-lb division, and he’s going to through agony to make weight.
Of all the Top Rank fighters, only Teofimo has the right ingredients for him to become a huge pay-per-view superstar. The rest of the guys in Arum’s stable are missing the mark, especially Crawford.
Unfortunately, Teofimo about to move into a near-dead division at 140, and he’s going to have a hard time finding opposition that the casual boxing fans will get excited about seeing him fight.
IBF/WBA light-welterweight champion Josh Taylor and WBC/WBO champ Jose Ramirez will be moving up in weight to the 147lb division.
If Teofimo moves up in weight in 2021, he’ll be able to fight one or both of them before they leave. But if Teofimo waits until 2022 before moving up, he’ll be stepping into a dead division.
Teofimo should probably skip the 140-lb division entirely and go straight to 147 because that’s where he’ll become a pay-per-view star a lot faster.
Lopez won’t make the jump to PPV if he goes to 140 and faces the like of Regis Prograis, Viktor Postol, Jose Zepeda, and Arnold Barbosa Jr.