By Dan Ambrose: Teofimo Lopez insists that he’s still “got it” after his dreadfully poor performance last Saturday night in which he was given a controversial 10 round split decision against Sandor Martin in his backyard at Madison Square Garden in New York.
(Photo credit: Sumio Yamada)
After the fight, the former unified lightweight champion Teofimo (18-1, 13 KOs) was overheard inside the ring saying, “Do I still got it?”
Teofimo, 25, looked anything but confident during and after the fight with Sandor (40-3, 13 KOs), who was brought in as a warm-up opponent to get Teo ready to challenge for the WBO light welterweight title against the winner of the Josh Taylor vs. Jack Catterall rematch.
“LMAO! I know I got it. Remember, I gave you all something to always talk about now! Remember this,” said Teofimo Lopez on Instagram.
“F” let ‘em hate; We stay working! Back on top ☯️🥱 #GIANT pic.twitter.com/wglVdEZia7
— Teofimo Lopez (@TeofimoLopez) December 11, 2022
Bozy Ennis: “Sandor should have won”
“I thought it was a real close fight, and I didn’t think Teo pulled it,” said Derek ‘Bozy’ Ennis to YSM Sports Media about him believing Sandor Martin should have been given a draw against Teofimo Lopez.
“I thought it was close. I would have given it a draw, but you’ve got to understand that those two knockdowns for Sandor, he should have got the fight.
“There was two knockdowns. No, they didn’t count them. It was a good fight for him [Teofimo] coming back, but he’s got to show more than what he showed the other night. He’s got to show more than that.
“You’re talking about guys like Josh Taylor and Regis Prograis. He’s got to show more than that. I don’t know if the layoff took effect on him in some sort of way or what.
“He’s starting to question himself, and you don’t know what’s going to happen next. Anytime you ask somebody, ‘Do I still got it?’ Something is wrong. It looks mental. It seems like to me that he’s going through something.
“He needs to work on that defense. If I was him, I’d get back in the ring because he was out for a while, so I would get back in the ring. From that performance right there? But then again, the boy [Sandor Martin] was a southpaw, wasn’t he?
“Yeah, he had a little problem with that southpaw style. We just got to wait and see because of the way he performed that night; the top guys like [Gary] Antuanne Russell and the young guys, Regis Prograis and the other boy [Josh Taylor], he’s going to have problems. Yeah, he’s going to have problems with those guys,” said Ennis about Teofimo likely to have problems with Prograis, Taylor and Russell.