Junior welterweight titleholder Teofimo Lopez may finally have a new opponent of his own, but on Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, he was content just to show up to the fights as an observer and an amateur analyst.
Lopez, who was interviewed on the DAZN broadcast between rounds during the Joshua Buatsi-Callum Smith interim light heavyweight bout, praised both Joseph Parker and late-replacement opponent Martin Bakole after each made the best of the situation when heavyweight titleholder Daniel Dubois fell out as Parker’s foe because of a viral infection.
“Kudos to Parker,” Lopez said. “He’s still taking the fight with Bakole. I mean, that’s a tough fight, regardless. But as a fighter, I gotta give props to Bakole for taking this on late notice. He literally just got in at two in the morning, and now he’s about to fight in a couple hours.”
With Dmitry Bivol taking another swing at Artur Beterbiev in the headliner, Lopez didn’t hesitate when asked if he thought Bivol might have a chance to turn the tables after dropping a close decision to Beterbiev in October.
“No, no, I don’t think so,” Lopez said. “I think that it might even be a late knockout – I think 10th round. I think that they understand each other a bit better. The only way this kind of goes a little bit more for Bivol is if he is steady with a strong, fast pace early on.”
Lopez, who last fought in June, in an underwhelming decision win over Steve Claggett, is theoretically now in line to face Arnold Barboza Jnr, who edged Jack Catterall in Manchester, England, last Saturday in a vacant interim title fight that essentially served as an eliminator.
Jason Langendorf is the former Boxing Editor of ESPN.com, was a contributor to Ringside Seat and the Queensberry Rules, and has written about boxing for Vice, The Guardian, Chicago Sun-Times and other publications. A member of the Boxing Writers Association of America, he can be found at LinkedIn and followed on X and Bluesky.
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