Teofimo Lopez has thrown his name in the hat to be Terence Crawford’s next opponent if he’s victorious in his debut at 154 on August 3rd against WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov.
Lopez (21-1, 13 KOs) says he’ll have no problems moving up from 140 to 154 to beat Crawford, and he’s anxious to get the opportunity to fight him if he gets past Madrimov.
Given Teofimo’s terrible performances in his last two fights against Steve Claggett and Jamaine Ortiz, he’s never in this lifetime will get a shot at fighting Crawford. He needs to stop talking about Crawford because it makes him sound dimwitted.
Teofimo doesn’t view Crawford’s reach advantage as a problem. He points out that Manny Pacquiao and Robert Duran succeeded against longer-armed fighters when they moved up in weight.
Crawford’s Focus: Canelo Alvarez, Not Teofimo Lopez
His Excellency Turki Alalshikh picks Crawford’s fights and does not mention Teofimo’s name. Turki wants Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis and Canelo Alvarez for Crawford. If Turki isn’t interested in Teofimo fighting Crawford, it’s not happening, and right now, that’s the case.
What Teofimo should do if he wants to get in line for a fight against Crawford would be to move up to 154 immediately and fight some of these fighters:
Vergil Ortiz Jr
Xander Zayas
Serhii Bohachuk
Tim Tszyu
Erickson Lubin
Questionable Matchmaking
Teofimo’s recent performances against Claggett, Jamaine Ortiz, and Sandor Martin at 140 showed that he’s on the downside of his career. He needs to stay in his lane, fighting the low-level opposition Top Rank is matching him with, or move back down to 135. At lightweight, Teofimo’s power was more significant, and he was a better fighter.
“Yeah, I am. I’m a nutcase. I’ll go right to it. How many times have people done it, and maybe they haven’t succeeded? That’s the beauty of it,” said Teofimo Lopez to the media when asked if he could go up to 154 to face former two-time undisputed champion Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford in that weight class.
“Why can’t I do it? The beauty of it is I will succeed from it. That makes it much sweeter when I win,” continued the desperate-sounding Teofimo, who badly wants a fight against Terence Crawford, no matter what weight.
To convince fans that this isn’t a hustle, Teofimo needs to move up to 154 and beat a top-level contender like Vergil Ortiz Jr or Xander Zayas. He would be a huge underdog against either of those fighters, but that’s his only hope of getting a fight against Crawford.
“The question is, how do you not beat a guy like Terence Crawford? That’s for me to know and y’all to find out when we fight,” said Teofimo, making it clear that he’s trying to talk his way into a payday against Crawford.
Creating Fake Hype
It won’t work for Teofimo to talk crazy about Crawford, attempting to create fake hype to convince gullible fans. No one believes in Teofimo anymore after a string of poor performances that stretch all the way to 2021. He has only looked good in one of his last six fights, and that was against a washed Josh Taylor.
“To me, it’s up to Canelo. It’s not about Crawford. It ain’t about Turki, with all due to respect for His Excellency. It’s what Canelo wants,” said Teofimo when told that Crawford only wants the Canelo Alvarez fight at 168 and is not showing interest in fighting anyone else but him.
Teofimo is sounding very desperate now for the Crawford fight, and that’s so off-putting. It wouldn’t have to be this way if Teofimo’s career wasn’t in such sorry shape, but he can no longer be trusted to beat top five-level competition.
Top Rank can’t put Teofimo in with the top 140, 147 or 154-lb fighters without worrying about him getting beaten once again and his value to them further diminishing. As such, Topr Rank is protecting Teofimo, matching him against Jamaine, Claggett, Martin, washed up Josh Taylor and Pedro Campa. It’s so obvious what they’re doing, and the tragic thing is, Teofimo is struggling against these fighters.
“So if Canelo feels he’s not interested in that fight and wants to take a different route, then there you have it,” said Lopez about his hopes that Canelo will pass on a fight with Crawford.
Even if Canelo does pass on a fight against Crawford, that won’t help Teofimo. Crawford would then face Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis in a big money fight and then retire if he loses. The other guys that Crawford would fight would be Sebastian Fundora, Errol Spence Jr., and Tim Tszyu. Teofimo isn’t on Crawford’s radar, and he won’t be.
“Yeah, well, it is,” said Teofimo when asked if he feels a fight between him and Crawford is a bigger fight than Crawford-Boots Ennis. “You got two guys [Teofimo and Crawford] that are undisputed in two weight divisions. So, it’s like the rebirth of Duran and Leonard or like Hagler and Leonard.”
Lopez’s Declining Popularity
Teofimo’s popularity has dropped dramatically since his career-best win against Vasily Lomachenko on October 17, 2020. In the six fights that Teofimo has had since the Lomachenko match, four of them have been lackluster performances against these fighters:
– Steve Claggett: Took massive punishment from journeyman in showcase fight
– Jamaine Ortiz: Questionable win. Teofimo appeared to lose 10-2 but give win.
– Sandor Martin: Controversial 12-round split decision win
– George Kambosos Jr: Loss
“Right now, we’re in talks for a lot of things. They don’t know. They’re just focusing, Top Rank. They’re focusing on the seasonal aspect of things,” said Teofimo when asked if he’s moving up from 140 to 147 to challenge Brian Norman Jr. for the WBO welterweight title.
The way Teofimo dodged the question when asked if he would be facing Brian Norman Jr. next at 147 indicates that he’s not interested in fighting this guy next.
That means that Top Rank will continue to match Teofimo carefully, knowing that if they throw him in with killers, he’ll flounder once again. Fighting Norman would just be the start of what Teofimo would need to do for him to get in Crawford’s orbit.
Teofimo would still need to move up to 154 and knock off some of the top guys in that division to get noticed by Crawford and His Excellency.
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