Teofimo Lopez calls Shakur Stevenson “the Roadrunner” ahead of Jan. 31 fight

Teofimo Lopez has come up with a nickname for Shakur Stevenson ahead of their January 31 fight, and it is not meant as praise.

In a Ring Magazine video from his camp, Lopez tagged Stevenson as “the Roadrunner.” He wasn’t laughing, and he talked like someone who plans to stay glued to his chest and make the fight ugly from the start.

Lopez described a fighter who wants space and rhythm. Someone who looks best when things stay clean and controlled. He made it clear he has no interest in letting the fight go that way and talked about staying close enough that Stevenson does not get to pick when and how exchanges happen.

He kept coming back to the same idea. Stay on him. Crowd him. Make him work every second.

You can’t just coast when you’re headlining a pay per view. People did not buy this to watch a twelve round game of tag. They are paying to see how Stevenson holds up once the pressure shows and he is forced to scrap.

People have had the same knock on Shakur for years. It comes back every time someone refuses to give him air and makes him fight inside.

Lopez also isn’t buying the idea that Stevenson is taking some massive risk by moving up to 140. To him, lightweight is still there waiting. If it does not work, Stevenson can go back to something familiar and steady himself with the WBC belt still around his waist.

“You chose me. I didn’t choose you,” Lopez said in the video. “We’ll send you back to lightweight. You still got your WBC belt. You’re going to be fine.”

He then reached back to their shared amateur days, bringing up a sparring session from 2016 in Miami when both fighters were still teenagers. Lopez said he was landing freely until Stevenson stopped the session.

“I was getting the best of him,” Lopez said. “Why do you think he said, ‘Stop’? He said, ‘Stop recording.’”

How much weight a session from ten years ago carries now is open to debate. Both fighters are different people. What matters more is the posture Lopez is bringing into this fight.

Teo is all in on the chase, planning to live on Shakur’s chest and smother him. The idea is to make it messy and exhausting, forcing Stevenson to fight back when there is nowhere to drift.