Bob Arum says his fighter, WBO light welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez, “acts like he’s got a screw loose” with him believing that his contract with Top Rank is invalid. Promoter Arum states that the two-division world champion Teofimo (21-1, 13 KOs) signed an extension for his fight against Sandor Martin in 2022.
In an interview with Dan Rafael on X, Arum said Teofimo is still under contract with Top Rank and is “there in Black and white.”
Teofimo talks eagerly about wanting to fight Terence Crawford, who has shown no interest in fighting him. If Teo does get his release from Top Rank, some believe that he’ll sign with Matchroom and fight on DAZN. T
The way that Teofimo has looked recently, he’s on the decline in his eight-year career and is only still winning, thanks to the careful matchmaking being done on his behalf by Top Rank. The Brooklyn, New York native Teofimo hasn’t looked like the same fighter he once was since his grueling fight against Vasily Lomachenko on October 17, 2020.
Although Teofimo won that fight by a narrow 12-round majority draw, he took many heavy shots from Lomachenko and hasn’t been the same since. Moreover, Teofimo’s behavior outside of the ring has been erratic, with him saying bizarre things to the media that make some of them question whether he’s still all there mentally.
Teofimo has fought three times since, beating Josh Taylor, Jamaine Ortiz, and Steve Claggett. He’s not been impressive in his last two fights, and he was very poor against Martin. A lot of boxing fans felt that Teofimo was given controversial decisions in his fights against Martin and Ortiz. Those were very questionable decisions that went to Teofimo.
He looked like a classic example of a shot fighter in his last fight, laboring to a 12-round unanimous decision over the 35-year-old veteran Steve Claggett on June 29th. This was supposed to be a showcase fight for Teofimo to look like gold, but he was horrible throughout, getting worked over against the ropes in many of the rounds. At the end of the fight, Teofimo’s face was marked up and badly swollen over both eyes. Physically, Teofimo looked like the loser.
“Teofimo sometimes acts like he has a screw loose. I like the kid, but I can’t figure him out, and he makes no logical sense,” said Arum to Dan Rafael. “He signed an extension with us first with the Jose Pedraza fight that didn’t happen, and then when we did another fight with Sandor Martin, he signed the same extension. So it’s there in black and white. I assume he showed the lawyer the first contract and not the second. Dealing with Teofimo is like dealing with Alice in Wonderland.”
Fans believe that Arum wants to keep Teofimo and set him up with a cash-out deal, matching him against Ryan Garcia or Devin Haney to bring in some revenue before his contract ends. Whether either of those fights will happen is unknown. Another one of Arum’s fighters, Keyshawn Davis, has been pushing for a fight against Teofimo, but Teo has shown no interest. He wants a revenue-generating fight. That would be Ryan or Haney.
Gervonta Davis hasn’t shown any desire to move up to 140 to fight Teofimo, and it’s physically impossible for Teo to melt back down to 135. He was putting his body through the wringer to make lightweight during the last year that he was fighting in that weight class in 2021, and he can’t return to that division now.
In Teofimo’s final fight at lightweight, he lost to George Kambosos Jr. by a 12-round split decision. That fight showed that Teofimo had stayed at 135 too long. However, that defeat may have been a product of the punishment that Teo took in the Lomachenko fight, because he took many shots from the former three-division world champion.
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