By Sean Jones: Bob Arum says he’ll be looking to possibly match his new star Teofimo Lopez against Ryan Garcia in a big pay-per-view clash after he makes his next title defense against George Kambosos Jr.
Arum sees the highly popular King Ryan (21-0, 18 KOs) as the better option for IBF/WBA/WBC Franchise/WBO lightweight champion Teofimo to face than Devin Haney or Gervonta Davis due to his large fan base.
Although Arum would like to make the fight between Lopez (16-0, 12 KOs) and Ryan, he’s not impressed with the boxing skills of the young 22-year-old Golden Boy star.
Arum says Ryan Garcia has “flaws” in his game, and he could have lost his last fight against Luke Campbell on January 2nd if the British fighter had come into the contest with the mindset to win instead of just survive.
For some inexplicable reason, Campbell didn’t look to finish Ryan after he knocked him flat in the second round. Like many fans, Arum was confused as to why Campbell didn’t press the attack after he dropped Ryan.
Campbell could have beaten Ryan, says Arum
“Ryan Garcia is a talent no question about it, but he’s got a lot of flaws,” said Arum to iFL TV. “His footwork is bad. [Luke] Campbell going into a fight with the mindset not to lose, and he doesn’t go into a fight with the mindset to win.
“So pretty much he was at the mercy of Garcia, a young, strong kid that can punch. If Campbell had gone into the fight with the mindset to win the fight, when he knocked Garcia down, he might have pressed the action and taken Garcia out, I think, but he didn’t do that.
Again, I think that’s the mindset he [Campbell] has in a fight. When he fought Lomachenko, he fought in effect not to lose. He didn’t fight to win,” said Arum about Luke.
Campbell certainly could have finished Ryan Garcia in the second or even the third after hurting him, but he didn’t even try. That’s the most troubling part of it all.
Campbell didn’t even attempt to go after Ryan, and it’s not as if he didn’t realize that he had him hurt.
In an interview after the fight, Campbell said he observed that Ryan was unconscious while on his way down. It was the impact on the canvas that woke Ryan up, says Campbell. Luke knew Ryan was badly hurt and yet he still didn’t go after him.
Ryan isn’t ready for the likes of Teofimo Lopez or Tank Davis, which is why Arum wants to make the fight. If Arum thought Ryan was the finished product, he’d want no part of matching him against Teofimo.
Earlier this week, Arum told Barbershop Conversations that he would never put one of his fighters into a fight he didn’t think they could win.
Arum wants Ryan Garcia for Teofimo after Kambosos
“If I had to pick one, it would probably be [Ryan] Garcia because Garcia means a lot more to an event than the other two [Devin Haney and Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis],” said Arum when asked who he’d pick for Teofimo Lopez to fight if he wasn’t matching him against Kambosos next.
“Garcia has a tremendous following because of his social media presence and because of his personality. I think Garcia matched against Teofimo would be a real blockbuster pay-per-view event.
“Next, I think a fight with Tank Davis would also be very lucrative because Davis has a good fan base.
“Third would be Haney because he hasn’t developed the same fan base as the other two. Yeah, he [Eddie Hearn] talked to me about Haney.
“He’s a good fighter, but he doesn’t mean. You can’t [put him in the same category as Garcia and Tank Davis as attractions, you just can’t.
“I think Floyd [Mayweather] after Tefimo defeated Lomachenko, called Todd duBoef, the president of Top Rank. Floyd and Todd remained very good friends, and I believe they discussed that fight [Teofimo vs. Davis],” said Arum.
I’m not so sure that Golden Boy Promotions will let Ryan Garcia take on Teofimo in 2021.
Oscar De La Hoya said this week in an interview with SnowqueenLA that it doesn’t make sense to make the fight with Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis and Ryan until crowds are allowed back into large venues.
While Arum is optimistic that the pandemic will be behind us by the winter, that’s wishful thinking on his part.
Experts predict that a significant portion of the U.S population won’t be vaccinated in 2021, and the problem with the virus will be present by the winter months.
Ryan will opt for a fight against Tank Davis in the winter rather than face Teofimo, who doesn’t seem interested in fighting right now. Garcia wants to get the fight against Tank done first before he moves on to his secondary target Teofimo.
With that said, Teofimo’s plans of moving up in weight to 140 by the end of the year could wreck any chances of a fight between him and Ryan in 2021. Ryan isn’t ready to move up to 140 yet, so it’s not likely we’re going to see those two fighting this year.
Teofimo could face Taylor vs. Ramirez winner in Fall
“We’re looking for Australia for him to fight Kambosos, which is the IBF mandatory,” said Arum about Teofimo Lopez’s next fight. “Then we’ll look for him to fight one of these guys, whether it’s Garcia or Haney or Davis.
“If they weren’t available, then we’ll do a big winter fight against [Josh] Taylor – Ramirez [winner], which we hope to do in May. No, I’d like to do it in the United States.
“I think we can do it in a place where you can get a reasonable number of spectators. Hopefully, things are better in May, and we can get some Scottish people. So I would like to do that fight in Las Vegas.
“He comes from Melbourne,” said Arum about Kambosis. “The Greek-Australian community is financing it from what I understand that fight.
“There are hundreds of thousands of Greek Australians, who live in Melbounse. So that’s where the fight will be held,” said Arum.
Teofimo will likely wind up facing the winner of the light welterweight unification match between Jose Ramirez and Josh Taylor in the winter rather than Ryan Garcia or Tank Davis.
Teofimo won’t fight Devin Haney, despite his talk this week of wanting to fight him, and Arum likely won’t have luck matching him against Tank or Ryan. The most logical fight to be made for Teofimo is against the Taylor vs. Ramirez winner.
If Teofimo can’t get Tank or Ryan, his best option to make money and gain fame is to take on the winner of the clash between Josh Taylor and Jose Ramirez.
By beating the winner of that match, Teofimo would instantly become the undisputed 140-lb champion. That the second division that Teofimo has become the undisputed champion.
That’s almost unheard of even to consider a fighter doing that, and it would be impressive that Teofimo is accomplishing that at just 23.
As Arum mentioned, Haney isn’t popular enough for Teofimo to gain much from fighting him. If Teofimo can’t get Ryan or Tank in 2021, his best option is to go up to 140 to become the undisputed champion.
When Ryan eventually moves up to 140, he can take on Teofimo at that time. s for Tank, he’s too small to go up to 140, so he’ll likely keep floating between 130 and 135.