Teofimo Lopez Jr. still has every intention of pursuing the undisputed junior welterweight championship once he feels there is nothing else to accomplish in the lightweight division.
The path to that goal is more direct, with Scotland’s Josh Taylor unifying the WBC/WBA/IBF/WBO 140-pound titles following a 12-round unanimous decision win over Jose Ramirez. Their May 22 undisputed championship took place at The Theater at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, marking Taylor’s fourth career performance in the United States.
A stateside tour will have to continue, or so insists the reigning lightweight king.
“Oh no, not at all. I won’t do it. I won’t take the fight to the U.K.,” Lopez insisted during a recent media conference call to otherwise discuss his June 19 title defense versus Australia’s George Kambosos Jr. (19-0, 10KOs). “It’s not because I don’t believe I can’t beat him in the UK. It’s just the fact that I can see how much animosity that folks are carrying that I’m not undisputed at 135.
“I can just see the amount of favoritism over there. That fight would be somewhere over here.”
Brooklyn’s Lopez has yet to fight outside of the United States since turning pro in 2016, shortly after representing Honduras in the 2016 Rio Olympics. The 23-year-old has enjoyed a meteoric rise to stardom, earning Prospect of the Year honors in 2018 before claiming the IBF lightweight title by the end of 2019. Lopez had just one fight in 2020, though made it count in a 12-round unanimous decision victory over Vasiliy Lomachenko (14-2, 10KOs) to add the WBA/WBO belts and the WBC “Franchise” crown last October at MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas.
The win was enough for Lopez to also claim 2020 Fighter of the Year honors along with drawing accolades as ranking among the sport’s pound-for-pound best. A mandatory challenger obligation left Lopez to next face Kambosos, the current IBF number-one contender at lightweight. The championship clash takes place June 19 at loanDepot Park, the home to the MLB’s Miami Marlins.
The Triller Fight Club Pay-Per-View show will include fans in attendance, with event handlers expecting more than 35,000 on hand. It gives Lopez the chance to further build on his growing brand, after having already established himself as the class of the lightweight division. The next step is to further prove that he is worthy of claiming A-side status no matter the matchup.
“At the end of the day, I’m slowly becoming the cash cow of the division,” insists Lopez. “These guys can make a better paycheck fighting me where I choose. But I do eventually want to fight in the UK. It’s something that I want to do.
“However, I’m not giving anyone the upper hand over me. I’ve done it before. The whole thing now is just about playing my cards right and making those fights happen, though.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
