Teofimo Lopez is playing musical chairs with his opponents. It seems the last one to survive is Subriel Matias. The American Champion is now reported to defend his title against the once-labeled-boogeyman of the lightweight division. However, the fans are not ready to accept the fight.

Lopez, 27, already having fought twice this year, wanted a bigger next in 2025. He even floated the idea of moving up a division to 147 and taking on Jaron Ennis. The fight almost also got made, but ‘Boots’ caught cold feet, and the fight got shelved. But it looks like Top Rank has found another replacement, this time from the division in Matias, 32. Is it a better fight? It surely has drawn some strong responses.

Rick Glaser turned to his X handle and slammed the fight, which is supposedly currently scheduled for March 15. What drew out a strong response was the fight being a PPV. The boxing agent didn’t believe that the fight deserved to be a PPV.

He wrote. “Teofimo-Matias happening March 15 on ESPN+ PPV. Matias too slow, & has no Ring IQ to beat Teofimo. And this definitely shouldn’t be PPV. #Boxing”

In addition, there are no fights that are confirmed for the undercard. It looks like Glaser is not the only one who believes that the fight shouldn’t be a PPV. The fans took to the comment section of his post and hotly debated the fight in the making.

Fans are up in arms about Lopez vs. Matias being a PPV fight

A fan called it a ProBox-level fight. They said, “This is a Probox-level fight. I’ll catch it on Youtube or something.” The ProBox usually streams live fights on YouTube, which has young-and-coming fighters trying to rise up in the ranks.

A user contested the matchmaking thinking behind the fight. They declared, “That fight makes no sense why not fight for another belt in f–king tell you man !!!!!!!!! Lopez-Hitchins was the fight to make.” Richardson Hitchins had already called out Lopez after winning the IBF title, and a unification bout could have been made involving the two.

Someone blasted the fight and called it a joke. They announced, “Literally a joke this is on PPV.” Much of the criticism stems from the fact that Matias lost his IBF title to Liam Paro in a dismal performance and brushed aside a relatively unknown fighter in the bounce-back fight. So, there is less buzz for Matias currently.

A comment hypothesized that the fight would not be competitive. The comment read, “That’s certainly not gonna be competitive.” Matias’ loss to Paro exposed his defensive holes, whereas Lopez’s last two fights also had lackluster outings, and the fans had slammed the champion for his choice of opponents, too.

Lastly, a fan pointed out that the fight could be an easy affair for Lopez. They noted, “My thoughts exactly. Easy work for Teo.” Lopez has shown improvements as a fighter throughout his career and has shown the heart to pick fights with bigger fighters. He has the boxing acumen to exploit the overcommitting style of Matias and bag a win.

What do you make of this fight between Teofimo Lopez and Subriel Matias? Do you think it’s a PPV-worthy fight? Let us know in the comments below.