Teofimo Lopez confirmed that he still wants Terence Crawford next following his win over Steve Claggett last Saturday night.
Fans believe Teofimo is just desperate for the payday he would get fighting Crawford and knows he won’t win that fight.
Desperate Campaign for a Crawford Fight
The falloff from Teofimo’s game is pretty dramatic because he’s not the same fighter he was four to six years ago. Something has changed with him, and it’s hard to figure out because he’s still young at 26.
The way Teofimo looked against Claggett and recent fights against Jamaine Ortiz and Sandor Martin suggests that he’s going downhill. Hence, the tireless campaigning for the Crawford fight.
Lopez successfully defended his WBO light welterweight title with a twelve-round unanimous decision over Claggett (38-8-2, 26 KOs) at the James L. Knight Center in Miami, Florida.
He won by the scores 120-108, 120-108 and 119-110. But Teo’s eyes were swollen at the end of the fight from Claggett’s many punches. Early on, Claggett was strong and active. After the sixth, he faded, and his work rate and power dropped off.
It was another fight in which Teofimo was forced to go the full twelve-round distance, showing that his power isn’t the same in the 140-lb weight class as it was at 135.
Triple Crown Goal and Retirement Talks
The Top Rank-promoted Teofimo says he might retire if he defeats Crawford’s fight. However, the chances of facing Terence are slim, and it seems like a joke with fans for Teo to continue to call him out.
Lopez (21-1, 13 KOs) says he wants to win a triple crown to become a three-division world champion, and he feels that Crawford is on his target list. If Teofimo, 26, can’t get Crawford, he wants Brian Norman Jr. for that purpose.
“I’m a guy that likes to take risks. So, 147, three-division world champion at 27, sounds like a good ring for me,” said Teofimo Lopez to the Title Sports Network when asked if he’d like to move up to welterweight next after his win over Steve Claggett last Saturday night in Miami.
It’s hard to take Teofimo seriously when he says he’s a guy that takes risks, becaue if that were the case, he wouldn’t have fought Claggett. He’s a fringe contender with eight losses on his record.
Teofimo hasn’t taken any big risks since his fight with Vasily Lomachenko in 2020. Lopez’s fight with George Kambosos Jr. was thought to be an easy one going in, but the Australian outhustled him in his loss in 2021. All the fights since then for Teofimo have been non-risky.
The Path to Crawford: Brian Norman Jr. and Welterweight Move
If Teofimo is serious about taking risks, he should face Brian Norman for the WBO welterweight title and then use the victory to create public pressure for a match against Crawford,
“I look forward to more legacy. Whether Brian Norman is the next guy or whether it’s Crawford,” said Teofimo. “People think I’m biting more than I can chew. I don’t care. It’s the best fighting the best. The toughest fighting the toughest, and whoever prevails at the end. That’s Teofimo the Takeover.”
It seems obvious to fans that Teofimo’s rationale for wanting a fight against Crawford is for money only. Teofimo isn’t fighting at 147 or 154 to put himself in a position to get the Crawford fight, and he’s not fighting the right opposition at 140 to increase his fame.
“Yeah, I do. I want Terence Crawford. I don’t care what people think. If you think I’m a chump and easy guy, bring it on. Finish me already. I want Terence Crawford. He’s the only last guy to get the triple crown for me. For me, he’s the last guy, and maybe I could hang it up after that,” said Teofimo.
Crawford isn’t going to fight Teofimo because he’s targeting a fight against Canelo Alvarez, but he needs to win his August 3rd fight first against WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov. It’s unclear if that fight was Crawford’s idea or His Excellency Turki Alalshikh’s.
Given that it’s Turki’s card on August 3rd, it seems reasonable to assume that he came up with the idea for Crawford to fight Madrimov.
