Terence Crawford gave the needy Teofimo Lopez the key to getting a chance to fight him by facing and beating former 154-lb world champion Israil Madrimov next.
(Credit: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing)
Madrimov is a big puncher with Golovkin-like power in either hand, and it would be a tough fight for Lopez to take to earn a chance to battle Crawford for the gold.
If Top Rank set Teofimo up with a match against Madrimov, the fight would draw much interest due to its oddity. Lopez Jr. would be moving up two divisions from 140 to 154 to take on Madrimov.
Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) in an insurmountable barrier in front of him that the struggling ‘Takeover’ Teofimo Jr. (21-1, 13 KOs) must pass to have the opportunity to face him.
While Lopez Jr was one of the young fighters on the rise four years ago after his upset win over Vasily Lomachenko in 2020, his star has burned out after five terrible performances.
If still young 27-year-old Teofimo wants to earn the chance for a mega-payday fight against Crawford, he’ll agree to the fight against the recently beaten Madrimov (10-1-1, 7 KOs) and take his chances. Nicknamed ‘Little GGG,’ Madrimov is a big puncher who lit up Crawford with powerful right hands on August 3rd at the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, California.
Madrimov came close to defeating Crawford, losing a 12-round unanimous decision by the scores 115-113, 116-112 and 115-113. That was by far the hardest fight of Crawford’s career, and he was lucky that Madrimov made the mistake of not stepping his foot on the accelerator in the championship rounds.
Lopez’s once promising career has imploded since his victory over a smaller, older Vasily Lomachenko in October 2020. Some feel that Lomachenko took something out of Lopez with the shots that he hit him with in that fight. Teofimo has been inconsistent inside the ring since that fight, only looking impressive in one of his last six fights against Josh Taylor.
Teofimo’s Disappointing Performances
– Steve Claggett
– Jamaine Ortiz
– Sandor Martin
– Pedro Campa
– George Kambosos Jr.
– Masayoshi Nakatani
– Vasily Lomachenko
@TeofimoLopez if you can beat @IsrailMadrimov in yo next fight I’ll fight you deal?😁 let’s see how serious you wanna fight me.
— Terence Crawford (@terencecrawford) October 6, 2024
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