Teofimo Lopez called out WBA light welterweight champion Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz, saying he wants him next after successfully defending his WBO 140-lb title last Saturday night with a one-sided twelve-round unanimous decision over Steve Claggett in Miami, Florida.
Lopez Wants ‘Pitbull’ Cruz Next
Teofimo (21-1, 13 KOs) will need to defend better against ‘Pitbull Cruz than he did against Claggett (38-8-2, 26 KOs) because the challenger hit him a lot in their twelve-round fight. At the end of the fight, Lopez had swelling over both eyes and looked like he’d been through a war at the James L. Knight Center.
The scores were 120-108, 120-108, and 119-109.
Pitbull Cruz is defending his WBA 140-lb title against Jose ‘Rayo’ Valenzuela on August 3rd at the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles. There’s no guarantee that Pitbull will win that fight, but if he’s victorious, he might be interested in a battle with Teofimo.
The problem with that fight is that it would be a dual broadcast match involving Amazon Prime Video and ESPN. That’s not a good deal for either network, so it doesn’t make sense because Cruz vs. Lopez isn’t a big enough fight.
“I don’t care how I look. As long as my hand gets raised at the end of it,” said a beat-up-looking Teofimo Lopez to the media last Saturday night after his win over stay-busy opponent Steve Claggett in Miami.
Arum’s Disappointment and Teofimo’s Future
“Bob [Arum] said I did well. He didn’t look too happy. F*** it. I’m your only last star available,” said Teofimo about his promoter, Bob Arum of Top Rank. “You got to deal with it.”
It’s understandable why Arum wouldn’t be pleased with how Teofimo fought against Claggett. This was a showcase fight in which he was supposed to look sensational, but he didn’t and got banged up.
The performance highlighted what many believe to be the case: the 26-year-old Teofimo isn’t the fighter he once was and doesn’t have the talent to beat the top-level fighters at 140 or 147 if he moves up in weight.
Arum had talked this week about wanting Teofimo to move up to welterweight to challenge Brian Norman Jr. for the WBO title. But after Teofimo’s effort against Claggett, Arum must know that if he makes that fight, Norman will destroy him and ruin his career or what’s left.
Arum has to be thinking of an exit strategy for Teofimo because he’s subsidizing his fights, but he doesn’t have the talent or the fan base to justify his continuing to prop him up with gimmes.
The legendary promoter Arum has got to dump this albatross Teofimo as fast as possible because he can’t swim with the sharks. Tossing him in with Brian Norman Jr. (26-0, 23 KOs) would be ideal for ridding him of this problem.
“F*** yeah, I’m ready for it,” said Lopez when asked if he wants to fight WBA light welterweight champion Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz next. “I’m 26. I’m still learning in this game.”
If Teofimo is too chicken to move up to challenge Norman Jr. for the WBO welterweight title, Arum needs to make the best possible match-up. Keyshawn Davis or Raymond Muratalla would be excellent fights for Arum to make against Teofimo, and it helps launch the careers of those two fighters.
Lopez Challenges Crawford
“Yes, I do,” said Lopez when asked if he wanted to fight Terence Crawford. “Nobody is going to fight like Steve Claggett. There’s only one fighter that is going to fight like him a little bit, and he’s smaller, and that’s Pitbull Cruz. Other than that, no other fighter fights that way at all. They all box.”
There’s no chance that Teofimo will get a fight against Crawford because he’s fighting at 154, and is being positioned for a big-money cash-out fight against superstar Canelo Alvarez in early 2025, provided he wins his fight on August 3rd against WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov.
“Crawford boxes. He doesn’t really slug in there. I do these types of fights for a reason,” said Lopez, justifying his decision to face Claggett.
