IBF lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez has explained that his tension with Vasiliy Lomachenko is not for show or to build up their looming showdown.
According to Lopez, he legitimately doesn't like Lomachenko, who holds the WBC Franchise, WBA, WBO lightweight belts.
Lopez and Lomachenko were heading to a June unification date at Madison Square Garden in New York City, but those plans were dashed away when the coronavirus pandemic hit the United States.
The two world champions will still collide, but there is no telling when and where that contest will take place.
The current plan is to match them against each other before the year is out.
Because of the tension, Lopez warns that he will enjoy every second of a brutal knockout victory over the boxer that many feel is the pound-for-pound best in the world.
"I'm going to enjoy knocking him the f--- out and not feel any remorse whatever," Lopez told CBS Sports' "State of Combat" podcast this week. "That's just it. I do not personally like the guy. With Richard Commey, I liked the guy but I did what I had to do. There's business and then there is personal. This right here is personal. I just don't like the dude. I don't like how he says things and don't like how he is. When that day comes when we fight, I can't wait. I can't wait to knock his head off and that's just that.
"It's the look, the way he presents himself, the way that he is. I don't know what it is. You ever seen someone that you just look at and you are saying, 'Man, I want to punch them in the face'? Maybe not. Maybe it's just a me thing. I don't get that a lot, there are some people I can vibe to and just chill with and hang out. But there are some people I just can't and they annoy me, they bug me in just their presence being there in the same room.
"My energy doesn't like his energy. It just started getting bigger and I saw how he was to other people. I was like, 'F--- this guy, personally."