By Craig Daly: Newly crowned WBO light welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez talked about retirement after his victory over Josh Taylor last Saturday night in New York. Teofimo (19-1, 13 KOs)is joking around, but with him, you don’t know when he’s serious or not.
If Teofimo sticks around, he’s got the following interesting fights available to him:
– Ryan Garcia
– Devin Haney
– Regis Prograis
– Subriel Matias
– Vasyl Lomachenko
– Shakur Stevenson
– Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero
– Gervonta Davis
– Josh Taylor – rematch
Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy posted on social media after the fight, telling Teofimo to contact him. De La Hoya may have realized that wasn’t the right way to start negotiations, as he deleted his post soon after.
Ryan Garcia has already let De La Hoya know that he wants Rolly Romero next, and he likely wouldn’t want to take a risky fight against Teofimo because that’s not an ideal opponent to face with him coming off a seventh round knockout loss to Gervonta Davis.
“It took a long time for them to come up with the scorecards. They were trying to figure it out, and I told everybody. I was like, ‘Listen, man. Y’all better not steal it. ain’t no f***king way you can steal it from me,'” said Teofimo Lopez to the media after his win over Josh Taylor.
“Absolutely, it’s only getting better, you know? That’s what it’s all about; challenges. Challenges bring the greatness out of you. I don’t know how to say it or express it enough. I might retire,” said Teofimo.
Teofimo sent Taylor (19-1, 13 KOs) down to his first career defeat, beating him by a twelve round unanimous decision by the scores 115-113, 115-113, and 117-111.
Two of the scores were ridiculously close because it looked like a one-sided victory for Teo, but obviously, the two judges that had it 115-113 were scoring the close rounds to Taylor.
Poor Josh Taylor. He looked deeply upset after the fight, realizing perhaps that he has no chance of getting a rematch with Teofimo to try and avenge the loss.
More importantly, Taylor isn’t a young 32, and he’s not the same guy that beat Regis Prograis four years ago. That version of Taylor would have been a problem for Tefoimo tonight, but not the older person he is now.
Taylor isn’t young enough to work himself into a position for a rematch with Teofimo. To get a rematch with Teo, Taylor would need to beat a handful of talented 140-pounders, and it’s questionable whether Top Rank can find the right guys that would be willing to fight him.
