Teofimo Lopez isn’t giving up on pushing for a fight against Terence Crawford at 147. Teo feels that a win over Crawford would effectively make him a three-division undisputed champion.
The 26-year-old Brooklyn native, Teofimo, feels he needs a win over Crawford to gain respect. He feels that he needs to beat Crawford to validate him as a top fighter because a lot of fans can’t erase the memory of Teoifmo losing to George Kambosos Jr. and then blaming the loss afterward on being injured.
Crawford is expected to move up to 154 next to possibly challenge Tim Tszyu for his WBO title, so it seems that Teofimo (19-1, 13 KOs) is too late to get a shot at Terence.
Next month, Teofimo is defending his WBO 140-lb title against Jamaine Ortiz on February 8th at the Michelob ULTRA Arena at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas,
Flowers At Crawford’s Expense
“I want my flowers now, and the only way I can do that is by beating Terence Crawford now and getting that respect,” said Teofimo Lopez to DAZN Boxing.
“This is the Terence Crawford era, then that’s the guy,” said Lopez. “I give him his flowers. However, I’m a fighter as well, and I know I’m the best, and he says he’s the best. So we’re not too far away in weight class, and we can make that happen.”
It’s looking good for Teofimo to be getting a chance to fight Crawford, because he’s got bigger fish to fry, wanting to face Canelo Alvarez at 168.
“They’re trying to block my vision of getting to Crawford because they don’t want me to do it,” said Teofimo, sounding paranoid, talking conspiracy theory stuff.
“They don’t want to fight me,” said Teofimo about Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia. “Bill Haney doesn’t care for his son. He’s just a money pit.”
Embellishment and Fact-Checking
“That was the biggest fight in history,” said Teofimo about his fight against former undisputed light welterweight champion Josh Taylor last June. “It was undisputed [Taylor] vs. former undisputed champion,” said Teofimo, embellishing his credentials by calling himself a former undisputed champion, which he never was at lightweight.
Taylor wasn’t undisputed when he fought him. He’d already lost his IBF, WBA & WBC titles, and the only one he had left was the WBO belt.