By Sean Jones: Teofimo Lopez says Vasily Lomachenko is a “sore loser,” and he’s having difficulty dealing with the first true loss of his career last October against him.
Teofimo Jr says Lomachenko (14-2, 10 KOs) couldn’t step up to the plate when he pushed the fight against him last year, so he ended up losing a wide 12 round unanimous decision. With the defeat, Lomachenko lost his WBA, WBC Franchise & WBO lightweight titles.
Although Lomachenko has repeatedly asked Teofimo (16-0, 12 KOs) for a rematch, he’s been ignored. Teofimo, 23, has no interest in fighting Loma again, and his father Teofimo Sr backs him on that stance.
Teofimo says Lomachenko not dealing with his defeat well
“He don’t know how to take a loss,” said Teofimo Lopez to DAZN about Lomachenko not dealing with his defeat well. He’s just someone that is a sore loser.
“That’s all it is. I beat him clearly,” Teofimo continued. “And if we were to fight again, he’ll get knocked out, and he knows it. I took his heart.”
Teofimo could make his promoters at Top Rank happy if he were to change his mind about not wanting to give Lomachenko a rematch.
It’s a fight that would attract a lot of fan interest, and unlike Teo’s next match against little-known Australian George Kambosos Jr, a rematch with Lomachenko is one that would sell.
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum could place the Teofimo vs. Lomachenko 2 fight on ESPN pay-per-view and would likely bring in many PPV buys. Teofimo wouldn’t have to force it to a purse bid like he did with the Kambosos Jr fight when Top Rank didn’t see it as a marquee fight as he did.
Given Teofimo’s reluctance to fight Lomachenko again and his assistance to take a lower-paying fight against the obscure fighter Kambosos Jr, the only conclusion one can make is that he’s afraid to fight Loma again.
There’s nothing wrong with Teofimo being afraid of fighting Lomachenko. He’s just one of many at 135 who want no part of fighting Lomachenko.
Teofimo’s popularity will plummet if he loses
As Loma pointed out recently, Teofimo knows that all the praise that he’s receiving now from boxing fans will dry up and disappear once he fights him and loses.
That’s why Teofimo won’t fight Lomachenko again because the biggest win of his career will be forgotten once he loses to Loma in a one-sided mismatch in the rematch.
The fans smell fear from Teofimo, and they’re not buying all the junk he’s saying about how he has nothing to prove in fighting him again and that he would knock him out.
Given the different scenarios that Bob Arum was presenting in his interviews on Thursdays about Teofimo’s next fight, Lomachenko doesn’t figure to be a part of his future.
Arum says that Teofimo’s options for his next fight after Kambosos Jr are these guys:
- Devin Haney
- Jose Taylor
- Jose Pedraza
- Julian Rodriguez
WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney appears to be in the pole position to get the fight against Teofimo if he gets past Kambosos Jr on June 19th.
Lomachenko is fighting Masayoshi Nakatani this month on June 26th on ESPN at the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. That’s a hard fight on paper for the 33-year-old Lomachenko, but a winnable one nonetheless.
A victory for Lomachenko over Nakatani (19-1, 10 KOs) will put him in a position to fight for the WBC 135-b title.
Unfortunately, Teofimo will have likely already left the lightweight division, moving up to 140 to challenge undisputed champion Josh Taylor (18-0 13 KOs) for his four titles.
If Teofimo beats WBC champion Haney, the title that he wins will be vacated, and Lomachenko would then fight for the belt against one of the contenders.