By Sean Jones: Paulie Malignaggi expects Teofimo Lopez to quickly unretire as soon as the WBO says they will strip him because of his retirement announcement.
Teofimo (19-1, 13 KOs) needs the WBO light welterweight title won last weekend against Josh Taylor as a bargaining chip to make more money, which seems to be what he really wants.
The way that Teofimo made a major production about his newly won belt after the fight, wanting to hold it inside the ring, makes it impossible to believe that he’s retiring.
Malignggi views Teofimo’s retirement talk as the same stuff that we see with Tyson Fury and Floyd Mayweather Jr did in the past. In other words, the old fake retirement bit to get attention from the public.
If Teofimo is doing this out of a need for him to feel praised, adored, and appreciated by the fans, it’s a pathetic way for him to get that.
With Teo, fans believe it’s just trolling or a desperate move to get more attention from the public after his way over Taylor. Perhaps Teofimo figured that fans would lose interest quickly, so he devised the retirement bit.
Teo needs a good PR person who can give him ideas to keep the boxing public interested in him between fights without needing to hit the nuclear button by talking about retirement or how he wants to “kill” his opponent.
A good public relations person could give Teofimo ideas that would help his popularity instead of harming it.
“Yes, he announced his retirement, but I think that’s one of the things fighters do nowadays. They just announce retirements, and they keep fighting. I know Tyson Fury did that,” said Paulie Malignaggi on his Youtube channel about Teofimo Lopez announcing his retirement.
“I’ll tell you what. Once they tell him they’ll strip him of his [WBO] world title if he retires, I think, he’ll unannounce it; he’ll unretire, and then he’ll start the new deals and whatnot,” Malignaggi said.
“If, indeed, his contract is over with ESPN and Top Rank, which I don’t know but based on the way he was talking, I think this might have been his last fight on the contract. I don’t know, but I’m curious to know.
“Mayweather started that kind of a tradition, and I think in the UFC, we also had the same weekend Amanda Nunez just retired on Saturday. I don’t think either of these people are retiring. I think we’re going to see them fight.
“I think Teofimo Lopez is going to insert himself into the major names at 140 pounds as well, and I think he’ll be a guy that people will continue to want to watch. People will mention him among the big names, and I tell you what, man.
“He’s not going to be easy to deal with. He said he’s leaving ESPN after this fight, which means he could be leaving Top Rank. I wonder if that would be the case. Right now, he’s got to decide.
“Credit to Taylor for hanging tough. He’s a proud Scott. I think personally Josh Taylor is the best Scottish fighter that I’ve ever seen.
“He’s been very, very good in his career, and I think this is a very impressive win for Teofimo. People are going to diminish it a little bit because of the way Taylor looked against Catterall, but that just shows you the level of Catterall and how tricky he can be as well. But a good win for Teofimo Lopez,” said Malignaggi.
