Shakur Stevenson and Teofimo Lopez disagree on many things, but both agreed that their opponent has a lot to prove heading into their junior welterweight championship fight on January 31.
Stevenson, the WBC lightweight champion who is stepping up to 140lbs to challenge the WBO junior welterweight champion, believes Lopez has yet to face a fighter of his caliber, while Lopez’s camp believes they perform at their best against left-handed boxers.
Both fighters made their case to the public at Wednesday’s press conference at Madison Square Garden in New York City, which is where their fight will take place.
While both champions were on stage, Stevenson had his most spirited back-and-forths with Lopez’s father/trainer Teofimo Snr.
“Teofimo Lopez brings excitement to the sport, every time he comes to fight, he comes to fight. You already know what he does. He’s the best when he’s the underdog. Just to put it out there, we never lost to any southpaw in his career, and I’m talking about the amateurs, over 200 fights. This is not gonna be the number one,” said Teofimo Lopez Snr, listing Vasiliy Lomachenko and Josh Taylor among their biggest victories against lefties.
“I’m none of them fighters. I think he did some great things against them guys. I’ve seen a lot of weakness in his game too,” shot back Stevenson, 24-0 (11 KOs), of Newark, New Jersey.
“He said Teo never lost to a southpaw. Well, I never lost to an orthodox, so it ain’t no different.”
Those words sparked a verbal sparring session between the two figures.
“The difference is you didn’t fight no elite fighter,” said Lopez Snr.
“I don’t think y’all did either. I didn’t see Lomachenko throw punches for six rounds,” Stevenson shot back.
“Because we froze him. And we’re gonna freeze you too.”
Teofimo Lopez Jnr, 22-1 (13 KOs), for his part, gave Stevenson his credit, calling him “the best fighter on my resume to date.” Sprinkled in among his magnanimous praise were juvenile jokes, like Lopez walking Stevenson into a “jiggle my balls” trap and invoking fellow Brooklynite Mike Tyson’s press conference tirade against Lennox Lewis by promising to “fuck you ‘til you love me.”
Stevenson, who is a significant betting favorite according to FanDuel at -350, preferred to keep his trash talk focused on boxing.
“I think he don’t realize how good I am. I think come fight night he’s gonna realize that I’m gonna take it to another level that he has never seen before. If he’s expecting the Josh Taylor or Lomachenko fight to happen, it won’t be that type of fight,” said Stevenson.
Lopez wasn’t fazed by the odds, saying that his unpredictable nature works in his favor, as few will be able to guess which version of him will show up on fight night.
“He’s saying this and saying that. But in reality, man, this guy is the best and we’re here to face the best,” said Lopez, a +250 moneyline underdog with that same online betting platform. “We’re defying the odds, we’re against all odds. To DraftKings and all the betting odds out there, make sure you keep the odds highly favored for Shakur. I got a lot of people that are starving and they need to make their money.”
