By Jim Calfa: Promoter Eddie Hearn doesn’t understand why Teofimo Lopez isn’t a star at this stage of his career after what he’s accomplished.
Hearn feels that the former two-division world champion Teofimo (19-1, 13 KOs) should be a big name by now, yet he’s not, and he isn’t a big ticket seller in New York City. Teofimo’s recent retirement won’t help his popularity, especially if he’s just trolling the fans with a Tyson Fury-style fake retiring.
His last fight against Josh Taylor failed to sell out the tiny 5,600-seat Hula Theater at Madison Square Garden, which is a sign that there’s something seriously wrong.
It obviously hasn’t helped that Teoimo’s career has been up & down since his victory over Vasily Lomachenko in 2020.
Teofimo lost in his next fight against a very average fighter, George Kambosos Jr, and then looked terrible in his next two bouts against Pedro Campa and Sandor Martin.
It’s questionable whether another promoter would have gotten better results in trying to turn Teofimo into a star. When you’re not fighting often and lacking consistency inside the ring, that’s going to be a problem to try and become a star.
Boxing fans can overlook one poor performance, but when you have three in a row like Teofimo did, it’s difficult.
“You never know with Teo. If he performs like that, If you want to be dubious, Josh Taylor really is done at 140, but Teo seems to raise his game in the big fights,” said Eddie Hearn to Fighthype when asked if he thinks Teofimo Lopez could beat Devin Haney & Gervonta Davis.
“So, who do I favor in him vs. Devin? Probably Devin. Who do I favor against Tank? Great fight. I want him to fight Regis. Another tremendous unification.
“So great to see. I just don’t understand why Teofimo has never been a big star, particularly in New York. Like this kid, he’s from Brooklyn. He’s an unbelievable talent, he’s outspoken, he’s a character, and he’s a personality.
“He beat Richard Comey in New York. It was a great performance, and then he beat Lomachenko. And then when we did him against [George] Kambosis, we just about sold out at the Hulu theater. Then when they did the Teofimo against Josh Taylor the other week, which was a massive fight, a really good fight, they didn’t even get close to selling it out.
“He should be a megastar, that kid. I don’t understand it, but not really my business,” said Hearn.
