By Dan Ambrose: Teofimo Lopez sounded bitter & insecure on Tuesday with his rant on social media about his “haters” that have been targeting him since his four lightweight titles to George Kambosos Jr. on November 27th.
Teofimo sounds like he’s haunted by his loss, having difficulty letting go and moving on from what happened to him.
The former IBF/WBA/WBC Franchise/WBO 135-lb champion Teofimo (16-1, 12 KOs) addressed his “haters” this week, saying that they “want to be like me.”
Teofimo then started rattling off a bunch of endorsement deals that he has going on since the loss of his titles to the unheralded Kambosos last November at Madison Square Garden in New York.
While Teofimo may be doing well in terms of his endorsement deals, his career is very much in doubt now.
In his next fight, the 24-year-old will be moving up to the 140-lb division, and he won’t have the size advantage that he enjoyed against his smaller opposition at 135. Lopez plans to face undefeated Arnold Barboza (26-0, 10 KOs) in the first half of 2022 at 140.
“All I can say is this. Y’all keep hating on me. Those that support me, I love you. Those that keep hating on me, they just want to be like me,” said Teofimo Lopez on social media.
“I got Beets, I got Bud Lite, and next is going to be Nike,” said Teofimo on his endorsements. “You best believe that because I asked that to the universe, and I’m going to grant that.
“For all, y’all keep hating, keep doing that. Give me that energy. And last but least, f*** humble. It’s growth,” said Teofimo.
The above rant from Teofimo suggests that he’s not dealing with his loss to Kambosos Jr. too well. Instead of Teo lashing out at fans by bragging about his endorsement deals, he needs to get in the gym and start rebuilding.
Teofimo boasting about how well he’s doing financially makes him sound insecure because he can no longer talk about his success inside the ring. Kambosos brought Teofimo down to earth with his victory last November, and there’s a good chance that Teo will continue to lose.
You can argue that if Teofimo isn’t good enough to beat an average fighter like Kambosos, it’s only a matter of time before he loses again. Even at Teofimo’s best, he would have never beaten the top lightweights.
Heck, the only reason Teofimo defeated Lomachenko is that the Ukrainian fighter was injured and had a massive advantage over him. For all intents and purposes, Teofimo was a light welterweight competing against an injured super featherweight in his win over Lomachenko in October 2020.
Boiling down to routinely compete against smaller foes gave Teofimo a tremendous advantage over them, something he will no longer have now that removing up to 140. Teofimo’s career may never be the same after moving up.
Like Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, a massive fighter for the 160-lb division a decade ago, his career was never the same after moving up to 168. We’re very likely to see Teofimo’s career peter out, going downhill fast.
In 2020, Teofimo pulled off a big upset against Vasily Lomachenko, beating him by a 12 round unanimous decision to take his four titles. After that fight, boxing fans crowned Teofimo as the #1 fighter in the division, saying that he’s a story.
Unfortunately, the fans failed to consider that Lomachenko (16-2, 11 KOs) was fighting with a badly injured right shoulder, forcing him to fight with just his left hand.
Lomachenko should have postponed the fight because it was insanity to compete with only one arm, but he chose to stick it out. Even with one hand, Lomachenko came close to beating the huge light welterweight-sized Teofimo.
