By Dan Ambrose: Teofimo Lopez’s dad, Teo Sr., is furious over Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis being ranked ahead of his son on Ring Magazine’s pound-for-pound list after his win over unbeaten former undisputed light welterweight champion Josh Taylor last Saturday night in New York.
Ring Magazine staff have the unbeaten Tank Davis at #8 ahead of #9 Teofimo in their pound-for-pound rankings. It’s likely that they based their rankings on how exceptional Gervonta has looked in his recent wins over Ryan Garcia, Hector Garcia, and Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero.
In contrast, the former unified lightweight champion Teofimo had looked poor in his three fights leading up to his match last Saturday night against the shopworn 32-year-old WBO 140-lb champion Josh Taylor.
Unfortunately for Teofimo, this was NOT a prime Taylor that he beat last Saturday night, as the Scottish fighter had been given a controversial decision over Jack Catterall in his previous fight, and he looked shot, not the guy he’d been in the prime of his career.
Before fighting Josh Taylor, Teofimo had looked bad in his fights against these guys:
- Sandor Martin – * controversial win
- Pedro Campo
- George Kambosos Jr – loss
Teofimo Sr. says Teo is “undisputed at 140”
Lopez Sr. insists that Teofimo (19-1, 13 KOs) is now rightfully the new undisputed 140-lb champion, despite Taylor (19-1, 13 KOs) having vacated his IBF, WBA & WBC titles over a year ago. It doesn’t matter to Lopez Sr.
The fact that Taylor was at one time the undisputed champion at light welterweight is enough for Lopez Sr. to view Teofimo as the four-belt champion at 140.
“He wants to take his time off. We’re not going to stop, bro. He’s
going to keep on doing what he’s doing,” said Teofimo Sr. to MillCity Boxing, letting fans know that Teo isn’t retired and is just taking a break.
“He’s a sharpshooter. We beat a great champion. I don’t take nothing away from Josh Taylor. He would have beat anybody that night except for Teofimo Lopez,” continued Teo Sr.
“My son is only 25 years old, bro. What he has accomplished in only 20 fights, nobody has ever done that on the planet. Right now, I’m not going to push him to do anything that he doesn’t want to do. He’s his own man, and I’m 100% with him for whatever whatever his decisions are.
“They got to pay him, bro. We was doing it for the belts. We was doing it for everything. We was taking all the big challenges. Like none of these guys are doing.
“How the hell are you going to put my son #10 in the pound-for-pound list and put Tank in there above my son when Tank hasn’t beaten nobody but [Jose] Pedrosa, which is disgusting. It’s unbelievable.
“None of these guys has done what my son has done, and for them to put him at the #10 in the pound-for-pound, it’s just disgusting.
“Those are the things why my son doesn’t want to fight no more because they don’t give him the credit that he deserves. He should at least be between the top three and between the top three, four, or five in the pound-for-pound list.
“I don’t care what anybody says. My son is undistributed at 140. He beat the man that was the man that didn’t lose to no one,” said Teofimo Sr. about Teo’s win over Josh Taylor.
