Promoter Bob Arum says he’s not against Teofimo Lopez fighting Terence Crawford, but he stresses that he needs to take care of his fight next month against Jamaine Ortiz on February 8th at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
WBO light welterweight champion Teofimo (19-1, 13 KOs) has been talking about wanting to fight various fighters, like Crawford, Devin Haney, Gervonta Davis, Ryan Garcia and Subriel Matias.
Is Teofimo Serious Or Seeking Clout?
It’s difficult to determine whether the 26-year-old Teofimo is serious or throwing those names out for clout purposes to drum up interest in his career and fight with #11 WBO Ortiz (17-1-1, 8 KOs) because there aren’t too many fans talking about this match.
Teofimo wouldn’t have to clout chase other fighters if he’d focused on fighting quality opposition that U.S boxing fans care about, but he hasn’t done that since his fight with Vasily Lomachenko in 2020. Teo’s three fights since then have come against fighters that lacked appeal to American fans, fighting these three:
– Josh Taylor: A champion but NOT popular to the U.S fans and a textbook example of a washed fighter
– Sandor Martin
– Pedro Campa
– George Kambosos Jr.
Arum’s Cautionary Tone
“Well, let him beat Jamaine Ortiz first, and then we’ll see. If that’s what he wants and that can happen, I’m not against it, but once again, one step at a time,” said Top Rank promoter Bob Arum to Boxing Social when asked about his reaction to WBO light welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez saying he wants to fight Terence Crawford.
“You can’t keep looking ahead. February 8th is a month away. Let’s see what happens on February 8th,” Arum continued about Teofimo.
“That’s great for boxing, just like it was great linking up Shakur’s last fight with Formula One. Linking up Teofimo’s fight [with Jamaine Ortiz] with the Super Bowl. There’s more press in town, more excitement, so I think it’s all for the good,” said Arum about scheduling Teofimo’s fight with Ortiz during Super Bowl week on February 8th.
