Teofimo Lopez has thrown his name in the hat to become Terence Crawford’s next opponent if he wins in his debut at 154 on August 3 against WBA junior middleweight champion Israel Madrimov.
Lopez (21-1, 13 KOs) says he will have no problem moving from 140 to 154 to defeat Crawford, and is eager to get a chance to fight him if he gets past Madrimov.
Given Teofimo’s horrible performances in his last two fights against Steve Claggett and Jamaine Ortiz, he has never in his life gotten a shot against Crawford. He needs to stop talking about Crawford because it makes him sound depressed.
Teofimo doesn’t see Crawford’s access advantage as a problem. He points out that Manny Pacquiao and Robert Duran have been successful against heavily armed fighters when they moved up in weight.
Crawford’s Focus: Canelo Alvarez, Not Teofimo Lopez
Honorable Turki Alalshikh chooses Crawford’s battles and does not mention Teofimo’s name. Turki wants Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis and Canelo Alvarez over Crawford. If Turki isn’t interested in Teofimo fighting Crawford, it’s not happening, and right now, of course.
What Teofimo needs to do if he wants to get in line to fight Crawford would be to move up to 154 quickly and fight some of these fighters:
Vergil Ortiz Jr
Xander Zayas
Serhii Bohachuk
Tim Tszyu
Erickson Lubin
Questionable Valuation
Teofimo’s recent performances against Claggett, Jamaine Ortiz, and Sandor Martin at 140 have shown that he is in the worst shape of his career. He needs to stay in his lane, against the lower level opposition that Top Rank matches him with, or drop back down to 135. At lightweight, Teofimo’s strength was more important, and he was the better fighter.
“Yes, I am. I’m a nutcase. I’ll get to it. How many times have people done it, and maybe failed? That’s the beauty of it,” Teofimo Lopez told the media when asked if he could move up to 154 to face Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford who was the two-time undefeated champion at that weight.
“Why can’t I do it? The beauty of it is that I will succeed in it. That makes it more fun when I win,” continued Teofimo who sounds desperate, who wants a fight with Terence Crawford, regardless of the weight.
In order to convince the fans that this is not a fluke, Teofimo needs to move up to 154 and defeat a top ranked opponent like Vergil Ortiz Jr or Xander Zayas. He will be a big target for any of these fighters, but that is his only hope against Crawford.
“The question is, how do you beat a guy like Terence Crawford? That’s for me to know and find out when we fight,” said Teofimo making it clear that he is trying to talk about how he will face Crawford.
Creating Fake Hype
It won’t work for Teofimo to talk crazy about Crawford, trying to make fake statements to convince gullible fans. No one believes in Teofimo anymore after a string of poor performances that reached 2021. He’s only looked good in one of his last six fights, and that was against a washed-up Josh Taylor.
“For me, it’s up to Canelo. It’s not about Crawford. It’s not about Turki, it’s all out of respect for the Hon. This is what Canelo wants,” Teofimo said when told that Crawford only wants the Canelo Alvarez fight at 168 and shows no interest in fighting anyone other than him.
Teofimo sounds very eager now for the Crawford fight, and that’s an understatement. It wouldn’t have to be this way if Teofimo’s career wasn’t in a sad state, but he can no longer be trusted to win a top-five competition.
Top Rank can’t put Teofimo in with the top 140, 147 or 154-lb fighters without worrying about him getting knocked out again and his value to them continuing to diminish. As such, Topr Rank defends Teofimo, matching him with Jamaine, Claggett, Martin, Josh Taylor and Pedro Campa. It is very clear what they are doing, and the sad thing is, Teofimo is fighting these fighters.
“So if Canelo feels like he doesn’t care about that fight and wants to take another path, then there you have it,” said Lopez on his hope that Canelo will go through with the fight with Crawford.
Even if Canelo postpones the fight against Crawford, that won’t help Teofimo. Crawford would face Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis in a big money fight and retire if he loses. Other guys Crawford would fight would be Sebastian Fundora, Errol Spence Jr., and Tim Tszyu. Teofimo is not on Crawford’s radar, and never will be.
“Yes, of course,” Teofimo said when asked if he felt the fight between him and Crawford was a bigger fight than Crawford-Boots Ennis. “He has two boys [Teofimo and Crawford] undisputed in two weight classes. So, it’s like a rebirth of Duran and Leonard or like Hagler and Leonard.”
Lopez’s Declining Fame
Teofimo’s reputation has taken a nosedive since his victory over Vasily Lomachenko on October 17, 2020. Of the six fights Teofimo has had since the Lomachenko match, four of them have been negative against these fighters:
– Steve Claggett: He got the most punishment from a walker in a showdown
– Jamaine Ortiz: Questionable win. Teofimo appeared to be defeated 10-2 but won.
– Sandor Martin: 12 round split decision win
– George Kambosos Jr: Loss
“Right now we are discussing many things. They don’t know. They just focus, the top position. They are focused on the story of the season,” said Teofimo when asked if he is moving up from 140 to 147 to challenge Brian Norman Jr. to win the WBO welterweight title.
The way Teofimo avoided the question when asked if he will face Brian Norman Jr. next at 147 shows he has no interest in fighting this guy next.
That means Top Rank will continue to match Teofimo carefully, knowing that if they throw him in with the killers, he will bounce back. The fight with Norman could be the beginning of what Teofimo will need to do to get on Crawford’s trail.
Teofimo will still need to move up to 154 and knock out some of the top guys in that division to get noticed by Crawford and His Highness.
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