By Sean Jones: Teofimo Lopez’s dad leaked the game plan for tonight by telling Bill Haney & the media that Teo will be boxing Josh Taylor all night and NOT looking to “kill” him like that had been talked about.
Lopez Sr admitted that he “f**ked up” by having Teofimo trying to knock out his opponents recently, which was a mistake. He said that Teofimo (18-1, 13 KOs) would return to how he fought in the amateurs when boxing his opposition instead of trying to obliterate them. That was when he was at his best.
It makes sense for Teofimo to box WBO light welterweight champion Taylor (19-0, 13 KOs) because he’s not a good enough puncher at 140 to brawl with this guy. Teofimo’s power didn’t carry up with him from 135, and if he tries to slug with Taylor, he’ll get blasted out.
Taylor has the better stamina, so it leaves Teofimo with no choice but to box if he’s to have any shot at winning. Teofimo mostly boxed in his win over Vasyl Lomachenko, but that was against a guy fighting with just one arm due to his shoulder injury.
Taylor isn’t injured, and he’s going to be difficult to outbox. It’s likely that Lopez Sr watched the success Regis Prograis had boxing Taylor from the outside in the second half of their fight in 2019.
When Prograis was going to war with Taylor in the first half of the fight, he was getting beaten up and was no match. It was only after Prograis made adjustments by fighting from long range that he found success in the later rounds.
Teofimo Lopez Sr: “I want you boys [Devin Haney] next,” to Fight Hub TV.
Bill Haney: “I looked for you high & low. I went to the liquor store and they told me I just missed you, too. Listen, you handle your business [against Josh Taylor]. You handle that. You got a tough guy tomorrow.”
Teofimo Sr: “We’re going to box the s**t out of this dude. They don’t know the ‘Gordo’ from the amateurs. They think we’re coming over here to kill him. We’re going to box him, bro. You’re going to see the most beautiful boxing that you’ve ever seen.
Bill: “Is Gordo [Teofimo] back?”
Teofimo Sr: “He never left. I was f***king up. I was pressuring him to go in and be hard, but I forgot my son is the best when he boxes, and you’re going to see the best boxer in the world tomorrow.”
Bill: “Didn’t I say that?”
Teofimo Sr: “And you guys are going to see it. We’re not coming to kill this guy. We’re going to break him down little by little.”
Bill: “If you guys win, do I get a promise? Did I come here for nothing? If you win, do you promise it’s Devin and Loma?”
Teofimo Sr: “F**k yeah. For twenty million dollars and you know that.”
Bill: “Don’t you price yourself out like that. Don’t listen to him.”
Teofimo Sr: “Twenty million dollars. You know you love money, mother f***r. Come on.”
Bill: “You heard it. It takes twenty million to get Devin. You seen what he said.”
Teofimo Sr: “Teofimo vs. Haney after we put the s**t on this [Taylor] mother f***er because it’s going to be a boxing exhibition that you guys have never seen in your life, and he knows what I’m talking about.
Bill: “I don’t know. Listen, I have no idea why it’s 20 million. That’s what he’s asking for. One thing that I say is that is like I told him. If he [Teofimo] gets back to being Gordo, the Gordo that I know that he was as an amateur.
“Before he was the guy that you knew as a knockout artist, it was Gordo, the hell of a boxer. If he gets back to being Gordo, then you can expect for a great night. But that 20 million dollars, I don’t know. I don’t know what’s happening.”
