Teofimo Lopez showed off his belt collection on X today and taunted IBF light welterweight champion Richardson Hitchins. Lopez (21-1, 13 KOs) let Hitchins know he won’t capture his belts this year.
If WBO 140-lb champion Lopez takes the fight with Hitchins next, he will be getting off to a bad start for his three-fight deal with Turki Al-Sheikh. Hitchins (19-0, 7 KOs) has the kind of talent to make Teo look far worse than George Kambosos Jr., Jamaine Ortiz, and Sandor Martin all did.
Those three fights that Lopez lost looked hopeless. The judges saved Teofimo’s hide against Jamaine and Sandor, but he was schooled in both fights. The thing is, Top Rank wasn’t matching Lopez tough by putting him in with Ortiz and Martin, yet he was still over his head.
They could have thrown Teo into the deep waters in a sink-or-swim situation by feeding him to Subriel Matias, Liam Paro, Hitchins, Ryan Garcia, or Devin Haney in the last four years. His career would likely be over by now. Top Rank has been feeding Teo with beatable fighters, but he’s still not shown the ability to beat even them.
2025 Forecast
The belts Teofimo showed off are likely to be gone by his next fight against Hitchins, a nightmarish matchup for Teo. This guy is going to do to Teo what George Kambosos Jr. did. Lopez’s belts that he was taunting Hitchins with on X last night will be gone soon, and he’ll be demoted to regular contender status, no better than anyone else waiting for a turn to get a title shot.
Lopez’s 2025 Schedule
- Richardson Hitchins – two belt unification at 140, pegged for summertime
- Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis – IBF welterweight champion. Teofimo will challenge Boots in October.
2026
- Ryan Garcia vs. Devin Haney 2 rematch, loser or winner: Teofimo faces one of those fighters in the finale or the loser’s bracket. Lopez will likely fight in the loser’s bracket against the Garcia-Haney 2 loser.
Teofimo is expected to fight two opponents in 2025: Hitchins and Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis. He could fight Hitchins first in the summer and Boots in October. This could be a bad year for Lopez, as he lost both of his fights and then entered February 2026 with his career on the line against Devin Haney or Ryan Garcia.
Lopez won’t receive much criticism from fans for losing to Boots Ennis because he would be moving up to 147 to take on the best fighter in the division. However, Teo won’t receive the same free pass if he gets beaten by Hitchins (19-0, 7 KOs) and then is embarrassed when he faces the loser of the Haney vs. Garcia 2 rematch in February 2026.
Teofimo made himself look bad by turning down what his promoter, Bob Arum, says was a career-high payday to defend against Subriel Matias. The purse would have been big, and he could have earned more from the PPV. Turning it down looked like a duck move for Teofimo, showing that he’s scared.
Belt Bragging
“Yo, Richardson, you can be training right now, boy. You’re not going to get it,” said Teofimo Lopez on X, showing off his belt collection and taunting IBF light welterweight champion Richardson Hitchins.
“Yo, Boots, we’re coming for three,” said Teofimo about wanting to capture the Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis’ IBF welterweight title to become a three-division world champion.
PSA: @HeIsRichardson X @JaronEnnis #Boxing
135 🏆 140 🏆 147 🥊 @RingMagazine_ pic.twitter.com/QwuMyEmKNA
— Teofimo Lopez (@TeofimoLopez) January 21, 2025
All those belts that Teo is showing off will be soon be gone, and it’s going to get interesting to see what he does afterward. Again, he’ll still have the Boots Ennis title shot for his IBF 147-lb title in October, but his chances of winning that fight are nil.
After Teofimo gets whipped by one of them, he’ll be heading towards February 2026 to face the loser of the Haney-Garcia II fight. Obviously, there won’t be a title on the line for that fight unless one of the sanctioning bodies whips up one of their trinket belts. I wouldn’t put it past them doing this, but the fight will still be seen as two fighters coming off losses.
