By Dan Ambrose: Teofimo Lopez has revealed that he’s considering adding trainer Eddy Reynoso to his coaching team to work with him and his father.
The former IBF/WBA/WBC Franchise/WBO lightweight champion Teofimo (16-1, 12 KOs) says he likes the “connection” with Reynoso, who coaches Canelo Alvarez.
Joining up with Reynoso will give the recently beaten 24-year-old Teofimo a lot of publicity with the media even without fighting.
Teofimo is coming off a loss to the unheralded George Kambosos Jr. on November 27th, and he’s now moving up to 140 in his next contest in May.
In reacting to being told that Ryan Garcia has split with Reynoso as his trainer and will now be coached by Joe Goosen, Teofimo believes that he might cause the switch for King Ry. In other words, Ryan wouldn’t want to be training at the same gym and the same coach as Teofimo in 2022.
Teofimo talks of joining Reynoso’s gym
“It might be because of some news that they’ve been saying about me and Eddy Reynoso,” said Teofimo Lopez to Esnews on why Ryan Garcia chose to split with Reynoso as his coach and switch to Joe Goosen.
“To be continued,” said Teofimo when asked if it’s true that he’s going to be trained by Reynoso. “He is [a great coach]. I love the connection. I’ve talked to Canelo a few times.
“Yeah, we’ll see. My father, he’s always going to be my main coach, my #1, my guy. I’m always going to hold it down for him,” said Teofimo.
Many boxing fans were critical of the corner work Teofimo Sr. did during Teo’s loss to Kambosos Jr.
Some of them felt that Teofimo Sr. failed to over concrete instructions for Teo to follow to win the fight when he was struggling with the boxing skills, craftiness, and energy of Kambosos.
Reynoso would arguably be an improvement over Teofimo’s father as his coach. Still, it’s debatable whether he’ll be able to improve him enough to unseat undisputed light welterweight champion Josh Taylor at 140.
Reynoso is good at picking opponents, which will not tangibly help Teofimo because he can’t swerve the talented opposition at 140 if he wants to become a superstar.
Kambosos should fight Haney next
“Whatever the man wants to do. He can do whatever he wants,” said Teofimo when asked if he believes four-belt lightweight champion George Kambosos Jr. will fight Devin Haney, Vasily Lomachenko, or Ryann Garcia next.
“The one I want him to fight is Haney. He’s been talking a lot for the longest. I think they just need to talk about that and make the fight happen,” said Teofimo.
It doesn’t look like WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney (27-0, 15 KOs) will be Kambosos’ next opponent.
According to Kambosos’ promoter Lou DiBella, they’ve given up on the idea of fighting Haney and are going in a different direction.
Ryan Garcia could be the next foe, as he’s now facing DiBella-promoted fighter Emmanuel Tagoe in a tune-up on April 9th in San Antonio, Texas.
On Rolly Romero being cleared of allegations
“It’s about time. People got to chill out about that,” said Teofimo in reaching to Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero, being cleared of the allegations made about him and is now set to challenge WBA ‘regular’ lightweight champion Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis next.
“I was someone vouching for Rolly. Yeah, people thought it was wrong, but I know Rolly. I know him on a personal scale, and he’s not like that.’ Teofimo said.
Teo likes Canelo vs. Jermall Charlo for May
“Canelo-Charlo, I like that,” said Teofimo when asked who Canelo Alvarez should fight next on May 7th between light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol or WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo.
“I like that [Charlo] fight for the boxing world and the fans. I think that’s a good fight for Canelo. I’m a big fan of both, so I’ve got respect for that, ” Teo added.
Teofimo expects to fight in May
“I should be back in May. I’ve got to get surgery now with Dr. [Neal ElAttrache]. He’s a surgeon for the LA Rams. So, I can’t really. I’ve got to wait for them to finish their thing. Then we get surgery, and we get back,” said Teofimo.
