Arnold Barboza Jr. (28-0, 10 KOs) says he wants a crack at a world title against WBO light welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez next after he gets through his fight against Xolisani Ndongeni (31-3, 18 KOs) this Saturday night on DAZN at the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, Las Vegas.
Barboza Jr. is ranked #1 WBO and wants his title shot against Teofimo, who has been reluctant to fight him for some reason. Some feel that the Top Rank-promoted Teofimo is afraid of Barboza, as they were both with the same promoter until recently, and he wouldn’t face him.
Teofimo is making a voluntary defense of his recently won WBO 140-lb belt on February 8th against #11 WBO Jamaine Ortiz on ESPN.
If Teo gets through that fight, the World Boxing Organization will order him to defend against Barboza Jr. next. Teofimo could then either agree, vacate, or be stripped of his WBO title if he feels he’s not interested in facing him.
This Saturday, January 6th, Barboza Jr. faces Ndongeni in a scheduled ten round fight on the Vergil Ortiz Jr. vs. Fredrick Lawson card on DAZN. The event starts at 10:30 p.m. ET.
Barboza putting pressure on Teofimo
“My goal is to put pressure on Teo’s neck and put his back against the wall and kind of force him to fight me,” said Arnold Barboza Jr. to DAZN Boxing about wanting to force Teofimo Lopez to defend his WBO light welterweight title against him.
“I don’t know how that works with him being the ‘Super Champion.’ I know he can get a voluntary [against #11 WBO Jamaine Ortiz] for this one, and I don’t know if I can be the mandatory for the next one.
“Hopefully, that fight can still happen. I’m #1 with the WBO, so that’s where I want to stay. I want to fight for that belt. If he doesn’t want to fight me, he can vacate it,” Barboza Jr. continued about Teofimo.
“I know about the rules of the ‘Super Champion.’ I don’t know how that works, but with Golden Boy behind me, hopefully, they can pull some strings,” said Barboza Jr.
Alternative options for Arnold
“Of course, if the Haney & Ryan fight doesn’t happen, that’s the easiest fight to make is me and Ryan next because he’s the same promoter, same network, and also Eddie Hearn’s guys,” said Barboza Jr. “It’s the same network as DAZN. So there’s a lot of other people on the site, too.
That would be perfect for Barboza Jr. to fight Ryan Garcia or Devin Haney if they don’t face each other. However, Haney is huge for the 140-lb weight class, and he’ll probably move up to 147 to fight Mario Barrios if Ryan or Gervonta Davis don’t agree to face him.
Ryan’s last performance against Oscar Duarte showed that he’s not ready for a fighter like Barboza Jr., and it’s difficult to imagine Golden Boy making this fight, even though it would be an in-house affair.
“That’s the reason why I wanted to sign with DAZN and Golden Boy, because it’s all DAZN, we can all fight each other. Oscar’s been working with everybody, so that’s a plus,” said Barboza Jr.
“Of course, that’s 1000%, and I’ve expressed that to my manager, too,” said Barboza Jr. when asked if he’d like to fight former WBC & WBO light welterweight champion Jose Ramirez, who is reportedly in the process of finalizing with Golden Boy.
“I’ve seen him a lot for years. First, get through this one [Ndongeni] because my opponent is very tough. But first, getting through this one, and as I said, if I can’t get a title shot against any of the champions, then a big name is what I want, like a Ryan or a Jose Ramirez. Even if it’s not for a belt. Let’s give the fans a good fight,” said Barboza Jr.
