By Adam Baskin: Tim Bradley gave Teofimo Lopez another reason to dislike him today by his pick of Josh Taylor to defeat him in their fight this Saturday night on ESPN at the Hula Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Bradley notes that Teofimo’s power didn’t carry up with him from 135, where he’d shown to have one-punch power.
Against the bigger guys at 140, Teofimo (18-1, 13 KOs) lacks the pop in his punches to score knockouts like he’d done at lightweight. Bradley says he wasn’t impressed with either of the two fights
Tim feels that unless the former unified lightweight champion Teofimo scores a knockout on Saturday, he will lose to WBO light welterweight champion Taaylor (19-0, 13 KOs), and he could get stopped.
A knockout loss for Teofimo would be catastrophic for his career, as it would be a clear signal that he won’t win another world title.
This week, Teofimo 25, has talked incessantly about defeating Taylor and then beating the other three champions in the division to become the undisputed champion at 140.
Teofimo = another Emperor Norton?
To be sure, Teo sounds delusional, but if he gets beaten badly by Taylor, he’ll finally see the cold, bitter truth in front of him.
A defeat might send Teofimo over the deep end, turning him into another Emperor Norton figure, a mentally shattered individual, embellishing his past credentials, roaming around, making senseless proclamations, and completely gone.
In his interviews, it’s readily apparent that Teofimo has an idea of what he’s up against fighting Josh Taylor and does not look confident in a real sense.
You can tell from watching Teofimo that he knows he’s the underdog in this fight, and he’s just hoping he can find the same magic that he once possessed to get the victory over the former undisputed 140-lb champion Taylor.
Teofimo needs a knockout to win
“So I’m going with Taylor because he’s the veteran at 140 pounds of his career. He’s fought a lot of tough guys in the weight class, including Regis Prograis. I’m going on his body of work and what he’s done over the course of,” said Tim Bradley to Fighthype about his choice for Saturday’s match between Josh Taylor and Teofimo Lopez.
“If anybody knows Regis Prograis and how good he is and how well he fights and how hard he hits and he was able to absorb his punches and actually fight Prograis and beat Prograis at his own game, then there’s no doubt in my mind that he can take the punch of a Lopez, even though he’s been off for some time and even though he’s coming off an
injury,
“I think he can take his punch, and I think he’s mentally tough enough to endure what he needs to endure. I think that he can step to Lopez and take Lopez to a place that he has never been to or possibly a remembrance of his time when he fought against George Kambosos
back in New York.
“I’m going with Taylor. I think his aggression, his body punching, and he’s a better inside fighter. He’s the bigger fighter, the taller fighter; he can box, he can counterpunch extremely well
“I know Teo is a gifted athlete; he’s a fantastic counterpuncher himself; he doesn’t use his jab all too often. So doesn’t Taylor. Taylor doesn’t either. Taylor doesn’t use his jab all too often either, but I just
think he’s a better, more complete fighter than Teofimo Lopez,
especially at 140 pounds.
“If Lopez can’t hit him and hurt him and knock him the hell out, I have to say, I got Taylor, and he might even stop Lopez late in the fight,” said Bradley.
Lopez’s power not the same at 140
“Look, man, I’m going to tell you something. Teo had that power at 135 pounds. It ain’t seen the same power at 140 pounds,” said Bradley. “It’s not that explosive one-punch power. I don’t think it exists at 140. I’ve seen him a couple of times at 140, and I wasn’t impressed. I have not been impressed with his work at 140.
“But I have been impressed with the work from Taylor. His last fight,
he got beside himself .you know he was filling himself a little bit too much. He admitted that to me. He said that to me to my face.’ Tim, I got a little beside myself. I wasn’t taking care of myself like I was supposed to. I thought I was going to get in there, and I just catch this guy [Jack Catterall] and knock him out just like everybody else thought
I was, but obviously, that didn’t happen.’
“I thought he lost the fight. To be honest with you, I thought he lost the fight, but this time, against a guy like Teofimo Lopez, a guy that’s dangerous, he going to be ready. There’s no doubt in my mind, he’s gonna be ready, and I know Teo’s gonna be ready as well because he knows he has a tough task in front of him,” Bradley said.
Josh Taylor should win
“I’ve always told Teo. I said, ‘Man, when you are 100 mentally on point, no one can beat you.’ I’ve always told him that,” said Bradley. “If he’s a hundred percent mentally focused and dedicated without a whole lot of influence outside the ring, no one, I said no one can beat him.
“He’s that damn good. He’s that damn talented, but we haven’t seen. I haven’t seen the best Teofimo under 140 pounds, so it’s really hard for me to really to pick him to win the fight. It really is.
“After watching them in his last fight against Sandor Martin, a left-hander, a guy that’s got great footwork, movement, something that Taylor can do good, footwork movement just stand in front.
“Teofimo struggled against him. so I’m going with Taylor. Again, Taylor should win this fight, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he was to stop Teofimo, but if Taylor was a hundred percent, it could be a different story.
“If Teo is a 100 up, 100 mentally, 100 physically ready but a hundred
percent mentally, he’s a bad boy,” said Bradley.
