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Boxing Real or Not
3/28/2022
Teofimo Lopez will be the next king at 140 pounds after Josh Taylor vacates
Coppinger: Not real. Lopez is ultra-talented and also proved the hype was real with the aforementioned win over Lomachenko. Despite all the success at 135 pounds, it's too soon to say if Lopez will replicate those achievements at 140 pounds.
On the one hand, you can argue that Lopez will be even better at his new weight class since he won't be weight-drained. But he'll still have to regain his confidence following the shock defeat to Kambosos and recover from various ailments.
Lopez fought Kambosos with a slight tear in his esophagus, complicating breathing. He's also been dealing with an assortment of nagging injuries since the Lomachenko fight, and recently had surgery on his elbow and wrist.
Lopez is looking at a July return, and even then, he'll likely be eased back into the ring. When he is ready for a title shot at 140 pounds, perhaps later this year, he'll be eyeing down a formidable mix of contenders striving to take over the division. Jack Catterall proved he's a player with his controversial loss to Josh Taylor, and there's also Regis Prograis, who returned last week with a one-sided beating of Tyrone McKenna.
The 140-pounder who truly continues to fly under the radar is Subriel Matias, the volume-punching Puerto Rican with PBC. Lopez surely will be squarely in the mix, but he'll have to shake off another layoff first.
https://www.espn.com/boxing/story/_/...dr-usyk-happen
3/28/2022
Teofimo Lopez will be the next king at 140 pounds after Josh Taylor vacates
Coppinger: Not real. Lopez is ultra-talented and also proved the hype was real with the aforementioned win over Lomachenko. Despite all the success at 135 pounds, it's too soon to say if Lopez will replicate those achievements at 140 pounds.
On the one hand, you can argue that Lopez will be even better at his new weight class since he won't be weight-drained. But he'll still have to regain his confidence following the shock defeat to Kambosos and recover from various ailments.
Lopez fought Kambosos with a slight tear in his esophagus, complicating breathing. He's also been dealing with an assortment of nagging injuries since the Lomachenko fight, and recently had surgery on his elbow and wrist.
Lopez is looking at a July return, and even then, he'll likely be eased back into the ring. When he is ready for a title shot at 140 pounds, perhaps later this year, he'll be eyeing down a formidable mix of contenders striving to take over the division. Jack Catterall proved he's a player with his controversial loss to Josh Taylor, and there's also Regis Prograis, who returned last week with a one-sided beating of Tyrone McKenna.
The 140-pounder who truly continues to fly under the radar is Subriel Matias, the volume-punching Puerto Rican with PBC. Lopez surely will be squarely in the mix, but he'll have to shake off another layoff first.
https://www.espn.com/boxing/story/_/...dr-usyk-happen
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