Teofimo Lopez challenges Josh Taylor on June 10th in New York City

Image: Teofimo Lopez challenges Josh Taylor on June 10th in New York City
By Boxing News - 03/20/2023 - Comments

By Dan Ambrose: Teofimo Lopez has revealed to his followers on social media that he’ll be challenging Josh Taylor for his WBO light welterweight title on June 10th in New York City.

The former unified lightweight champion Teofimo (18-1, 13 KOs) didn’t name the venue for his fight against the unbeaten Taylor (19-0, 13 KOs), but it’s believed it’ll take place at Madison Square Garden in New York on the June 10th date.

The post by Teofimo on social media seemed to reveal bitterness on his part about having been abandoned by fans after being dethroned by the unheralded Georg Kambosos Jr in 2021, and two consecutive lackluster performances since then at 140, one of which he deserved a loss in his fight against Sandor Martin last December.

Teofimo’s post on Twitter, where he was jogging with his pops, was interesting, saying, “I don’t need a group. F**k a groupie. I don’t need an entourage. I’m an entourage! We the one. We was born as the one. Don’t forget where you came from. I think I must have forgot.”

The defects that the former IBF, WBA & WBO lightweight champion Teofimo has shown in his last three fights are more on the mental side than physical, and it’s not something he’s likely to fix by June 10th when he goes up against the vastly more skilled Josh Taylor.

Top Rank is throwing Teofimo in the deep end in a sink-or-swim situation by setting him up with a fight against the unbeaten 2012 Olympian Taylor. From what we saw from Teofimo in his last three fights, he’s not even close to being ready for a fighter of Taylor’s caliber.

Top Rank has got to know that too, but they’re going to gamble, hoping that maybe Teofimo can get lucky or be given another gift decision like in his last fight against Sandor Martin.

If Teofimo gets massacred by Taylor, it’s quite possible Top Rank will cut him loose and move on rather than wasting time & money on a one-hit wonder who cannot cut the mustard at 140.

In the skills department, Teofimo doesn’t match up with Taylor, and he can’t count on his punching power & hand speed to bail him out as it did at 135.

Unfortunately for Teofimo, his power didn’t carry up with him from the lightweight division, so all he has is a speed, and it’s not good enough to beat upper-tier fighters, as we saw in his controversial 10 round split decision win last December against Sandor Martin in New York.

Teofimo was out-boxed, knocked down twice, and made to look bad by Sandor. The fact that Teofimo was given the win was troubling, as the entire boxing world had him losing that fight.