Timothy Bradley hasn’t been too pleased by the recent conduct of Teofimo Lopez Jr.

Bradley, a former two-division titlist, current ESPN commentator, and recent inductee into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, recently praised Lopez for his impressive win over Josh Taylor at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City to earn the WBO 140-pound title—an achievement that makes Lopez, 25, a champion in two divisions.

But Bradley had terser words for Lopez as it relates to the Brooklyn native’s behavior immediately after the win over Taylor: Lopez declared he was retired and suggested that he was not being paid enough by his promoter, Top Rank. Lopez reportedly earned a payday of over $2 million, but he insisted to reporters that his takeaway was only $1 million. (It’s not clear if Lopez was referring to a net or gross figure.) Lopez has since claimed he would only return to boxing if he could secure a “nine-figure” contract directly with a network and without the services of a promoter.   

In a recent interview, Bradley, who has butted heads with Lopez the past year, made it clear he thinks Lopez could be on the verge of a similar situation that greeted him after he defeated Vasiliy Lomachenko in 2020 to become the unified lightweight champion. After that banner win, Lopez seemed to have trouble balancing boxing with travails in his personal life, as in his next fight he suffered an upset to George Kambosos Jr.

“Here comes the dump truck,” Bradley said on The 3 Knockdown Rule. “You know me, man, I gotta keep it 100 with you. I think this guy, Teofimo Lopez—I like the kid, man. I had a relationship with this kid. When I said what I said about him being ‘dog food’ for the 140s, I think that really ticked him off. So now our relationship has kind of gone south. I still think he’s a cool kid, but the thing is that the kid wants attention, man.

“I’ve never seen a man whine and cry so much, man, about his situation. about the business of boxing, about what he’s not getting, about this fighter and that fighter, man, like, it’s ridiculous to watch and it’s shameful at the same time.

“Now he’s considered himself as retired. I don’t know what it has to do with. I don’t know if that has to do with his divorce.”

Bradley suggested that Lopez’s burden as the breadwinner for his family may be taking a toll on him, and which may have compelled him to announce his premature retirement.  

“I’m not sure if it has anything to do with his father,” Bradley said. “You gotta understand this. The streets talk, man. Boxing is a small community, yes, but they talk. You gotta understand this kid has been holding down the fort, holding down his family, since he became a professional. He has the responsibility to take care of his entire household. Understand that, man.

“When you have that type of pressure—I’m a man, I have kids, and he has a kid as well—when you have that type of pressure on you, each time out you have to deliver, man, it gets straining. You get sick and tired of feeling that pressure. Feeling that heavyweight on you. I think that kid is at the point where he feels that pressure and he’s like I’m done with this, man.

"I think he said he made a million for this fight. Again, complaining once again. That’s something you need to talk to your manager about because to me, I don’t think your manager has done a good enough job if you’re only getting paid a million dollars in a fight of that magnitude, so something is wrong there.”

Sean Nam is the author of Murder on Federal Street: Tyrone Everett, the Black Mafia, and the Last Golden Age of Philadelphia Boxing.