Teofimo Lopez Has a Boxing Hall of Famer Resume, Says Timothy Bradley

WBO super lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez was seen defeating Jamaine Ortiz in February this year. Now he is ready for his second fight of the year which will take place on June 29th. He will be seen facing off against Steve Claggett at the James L. Knight Center in Miami, Florida. Ahead of his bout, boxing pundit and former world champion Tim Bradley shed some light on Lopez’s career and believes that the boxer deserves to be in the Boxing Hall of Fame, despite being only 26 years old.

“I could retire today, right? And actually, wait 3 to 5 years and be inducted into the Hall of Fame,” Teofimo Lopez said in an interview recently. Bradley,  a two-weight world champion during his time, is also a Boxing Hall of Fame inductee. While discussing Lopez’s career, Bradley explained how the boxer doesn’t refrain from taking new challenges and has had a great run if being considered for induction into the Boxing Hall of Fame.

‘The Takeover’ has a notoriety for taking up big fights. Well, he also charges a lot of money for that, he has that kind of reputation as well. Coming to the point, Bradley asserted that Lopez is already a Hall of Famer based on his pro boxing career so far. Bradley stated, “He wants to fight the best guy that’s gonna give him the best payday at the same time. So he’s more about legacy as you can hear with his voice, he’s like ‘Yo I’m a 25-year-old and literally like I can be considered in a boxing Hall of Fame.’ He can truly. He could submit his way already or could have, I don’t know, I’m not in charge of that. But just looking on who he beat, I’m like okay.”

In 2020, he went up against Ukrainian boxing legend Vasyl Lomachenko, who was reigning in the lightweight division at the time. However, Lopez proved his mettle as he defeated ‘Loma’ and became the WBO, WBA, and IBF lightweight champion. The 26-year-old boxer has a stellar resume and has lost just once in his career, at the hands of George Kambosos Jr. in 2021. 

He has been a great boxer until now, but he is young and has many exciting prospects to come his way in the future. Saying that he is already in the Hall of Fame would be a little premature. Bradley, a seasoned boxer and pundit, has great confidence in Lopez, though. However, the kindness wasn’t reciprocated when Lopez remarked about Bradley’s place in boxing a few months ago. 

Teofimo Lopez lashes out at Tim Bradley’s one-sided perspective

The New York native once stated that, in his opinion, Lomachenko outclassed in the bout between Devin Haney and Vasyl Lomachenko. But commentators Tim Bradley and Andre Ward did not give enough credit to the Ukrainian. He went on to say that people should watch these fights without commentators. “Commentators try to make it very one-sided,” said Lopez. 

‘The Takeover’ further described, “Every time Loma was connecting, they stood quiet. Every time Haney threw a jab or an uppercut, they mentioned it.” Furthermore, he took this chance to dive into Bradley’s career and said, “I don’t even know how Tim Bradley is in the Hall of Fame, to be real. I don’t understand that part. I don’t think he’s a Hall of Famer.”

Lopez continued by claiming that Bradley had only one good victory, which was against Juan Manuel Marquez. In his opinion, Bradley performed terribly while facing elite boxers like Manny Pacquiao. Well, the two have a relationship of admiration and disdain. Meanwhile, Bradley is already in the Hall of Fame, so talking about his induction is pointless. However, do you think Teofimo Lopez should also be admitted? Or perhaps he should have been inducted already? Let us know your opinion in the comments below.