By Sean Jones: Teofimo Lopez is expecting big things during today’s purse bid in New Jersey for his next title defense against IBF mandatory George Kambosos Jr.
Undisputed lightweight champion Teofimo (16-0, 12 KOs) is bitter about his promoters at Top Rank offering him the minimum for his title defense against Kambosos Jr, and he believes the fight is worth more than that.
Unfortunately, Top Rank was unable to come to an agreement with Teofimo on what he wanted to get paid for the fight against the Australian Kambosos, so the market will decide the true worth of the fight.
Teofimo expects Matchroom and other promotional companies to bid on the fight to potentially bring his fight with Kambosos Jr (19-0, 10 KOs) to another network.
The 23-year-old Lopez feels that he’s become a star after beating Vasily Lomachenko and Richard Commey in his last two fights. However, those fighters weren’t household names with the casual boxing fans in the United States.
Hardcore fans have heard of Lomachenko and Commey, but not the casuals. As a result, Teofimo doesn’t understand that he’s not a star yet and his fight against little-known Kambosos won’t draw tremendous numbers other than the from the dedicated fans. In other words, it’s a Canelo Alvarez vs. Avni Yildirim type of low-level fight.
Teofimo anticipating big things for purse bid
“We know what we’re really worth, and what I’m really anticipated about is what the networks really got me at, and then we go from there,” said Teofimo Lopez to Punsh Drunk Boxing.
“I love Top Rank and ESPN. It’s business. People don’t like when you’re putting your foot down, ‘Nah, you know what I’m worth. Don’t hit me with my minimum. Get the f*** out of there.’
“They don’t even know what is coming on Thursday. I know my worth, and I know everybody, and all the networks know my worth. Everybody is going to see it on Thursday, and I can’t wait.
“I guarantee you I’m going to make a buck on it on Thursday. I can’t wait until Thursday because we got DAZN, we got ESPN and we have other networks that I don’t know,” said Teofimo about Thursday’s purse bid in New Jersey.
“It’s just the principal. I’m risking my life. I just want to see what everybody sees me at. Maybe Top Rank is right or maybe Top Rank is wrong,” said Teofimo about him being worth more than his contract minimum.
“The only way to find out is to put it up on a purse bid. This is the first time I’ve done a purse bid,” said Teofimo.
Today’s purse bid will likely bring in a winning bid that is larger than what Top Rank was going to pay Teofimo, but probably not by a whole lot.
If Teofimo is expecting to get the rumored $5 million for the Kambosos fight, he’s kidding himself. It’s not a fight that will bring in the kind of ratings to justify Teofimo being paid that kind of money.
And it’s like last weekend’s fight between Adrien Broner and Jovanie Santiago. It’s that kind of a fight.
Kambosos’ best career wins were narrow split decision wins over 37-year-old Mickey Bey and Lee Selby both of which are on the downside of their careers.
Kambosos is a “Tremendous fighter” – Teofimo
“He’s a tremendous fighter,” said Teofimo about Kambosos. “He went out there and fought his way [by beating Lee Selby and Mickey Bey].
“He’s #1 with the WBO and the IBF. I got to get rid of this guy now. While I’m doing this, it gives all these other guys to let them look better to earn their shot.
“Everybody criticizes me, but they’re used to being fed on a silver spoon,” Teofimo said.
It’s not going to work for Teofimo to trumpet how great he thinks Kambosos Jr is as a fighter.
The people that will be putting down bids during today’s purse bid obviously know what kind of fighter Kambosos Jr, and they know what he’ll bring to the table in terms of ratings.
Teofimo can talk about how great he thinks Kambosos is until he’s blue in the face, but it’s doubtful that he’s going to get a huge bid today from one of the promoters or networks that might be interested in this match.
Lopez calling Taylor vs. Ramirez winner his “Tuneup”
“Anyone at 140 from Josh Taylor to Jose Ramirez, they’re my tuneup fights. I’m going to be real with y’all. They don’t got that,” said Teofimo.
“I don’t even need a tune-up fight at 140. Those are my tune-up fights at 140,” said Teofimo about him taking on the winner of the Josh Taylor vs. Jose Ramirez match.
“The eyes don’t lie. I can tell you over and over again. They’re shook. I’m going to go out there and I’m going to eat your heart just like I took Loma’s heart. That boy ain’t got no heart, I took it.
“When you’re fed on a silver spoon you’re whole life and the real becomes the real, then they know when the s*** hits them. Oh s***, this is real life. So I need to save my life. I need to run, I need to survive.’
“The thing is, you can’t when you’re in the ring with me. I’m going to go out there and take your head off. Watch when those guys [Josh Taylor and Jose Ramirez] fight.
“They’re going to go up to 147 and drop those [140-lb titles] belts. Ain’t no one going to want to fight me. Those guys at 140 aren’t going to want to fight me. So I’m going to have to go and collect them myself and fight the guys I have to fight.
“They’re going to drop those belts, and I’ll bet my next check on it. I want Devin to succeed, I want Tank to succeed. I want them to do their thing, because if they ever reach to my level because I’m already past them.
“The thing is when they get to where now we can fight because you got somewhat of notoriety off it, okay, we can do that. I can’t wait. Oh, I can’t wait,” said Teofimo.
If Teofimo is lucky, the winner of the Jose Ramirez vs. Josh Taylor unification fight in May will vacate the four titles. Teofimo wouldn’t have to fight the winner and potentially lose.
What we saw from Teofimo against Lomachenko, he’ll get beaten by Ramirez or Taylor. Teofimo doesn’t have the engine to beat those guys, and he struggles when he’s pressured.
Lopez wants Haney to fight Ryan Garcia
“With Devin Haney and all these guys, why not let them fight each other? Me and Loma fought each other,” said Lopez.
“So why not these three? They could make a Devin Haney – Tank Davis fight happen. They could make a Ryan Garcia-Haney fight happen.
“I am going to fight all of them. They got to show stuff too. You’re telling me I’m ducking Devin Haney, the email champion with the WBC.
“He should be giving thanks to Mauricio [Sulaiman] for even acknowledging him as a world champion without even fighting anyone.
“I don’t even like talking about this kid because he hasn’t even done anything yet. He’s so mad. People get mad when they don’t get what they want.
I just want to know where this whole lie came from with this $4 million from Devin [Haney]?
These guys have four months to throw a contract to me, and in those four months, we did not get a contract from Tank Davis, we did not get a contract from Ryan Garcia, and we didn’t get a contact from Devin Haney.
“They expect the undisputed lightweight champion with all the belts to come to them. What do they bring to the table? I just want to know, what do they bring to the table?
“If they wanted to fight me like we wanted to fight Lomachenko. People have a thing for me and I can’t wait. During that four months, they never threw a contract.
“So now the IBF has mandated that I fight George Kambosos, who is my mandatory. Now if I don’t fight George Kambosos, I have to let go of my IBF world title.
“So in reality, get mad at Devin Haney, get mad at Tank Davis, and get mad at Ryan Garcia. Get mad at them because I’m not going to throw contracts at them.
“For what? If you want to fight me, you come to the King. The King don’t go to another territory. I own the throne. Why do I have to get off my seat?” said Teofimo
Ryan Garcia doesn’t want to fight Devin Haney until after he’s gotten big paydays against Manny Pacquiao or Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis. It sounds like a good idea that Teofimo has in watching Tank, Ryan, and Haney to weed each other out, but it’s not going to happen.
Teofimo would be better off if those three didn’t fight each other because they would be reducing his pool of big fights. For Teofimo to want them to fight each other instead of him doing it, that suggests that he doesn’t have the stomach for fighting those guys.
Again, that would tie in with Teofimos’s lack of desire to give Vasily Lomachenko a rematch. Fans believe Teofimo lacks the confidence to fight Loma a second time after getting lucky in beating him while he was fighting with a shoulder injury.