Teofimo Lopez Takes a U-Turn Days After Snubbing Gervonta Davis for Terence Crawford Fight

The Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney story seems to be taking a different route. There’s a slim chance of Subriel Matias coming back anytime soon. Liam Paro is just beginning to settle down as a world champion. So Teofimo Lopez seems to be drawing considerable attention in the light welterweight division. The 26-year-old Brooklynite, who will turn 27 next month, is all set for another title defense. He will be facing Canadian Steve Claggett at Miami’s James L. Knight Center. The WBO champion is a -1000 favorite to win against the 8th-ranked challenger. So the obvious question is: what is the next course of action for the Honduran-American title holder?

He can go against Paro. He can call out Devin Haney or Isaac Cruz as well. But like most fans, ‘The Takeover’ likely understands that none of the current contenders would match the excitement and draw of a fight with Gervonta Davis. That’s why, while speaking with the media in Miami, Teofimo Lopez expressed a keenness to fight ‘Tank’. Now, to many fans, it might come as a surprise. Just the other day, he lambasted Davis and other boxers of the current generation for chasing fame and money. In fact, he would rather go fight Terence Crawford than the Baltimorean. Let’s hear what ‘The Takeover’ had to say.

Let’s go! Teofimo Lopez vs. Gervonta Davis

So the reporter said, “Teo, you’re probably the only guy in or around the weight class of Tank Davis that can match his explosiveness and his ring IQ. Is that a fight that we can see happen in the near future?” The light welterweight champion agreed. However, he highlighted that a lot depends on what Gervonta Davis’ team thinks and decides.

He could speak for himself, though, and revealed full confidence in a win. “I’m the architect of my fate, so at the end of it all, I know I will come out victorious; it’s all a matter of time, a matter of when you know so, and that’s really it, you know,” he said.

However, he does not seem to be in a position to confirm exactly how the talks will proceed. As it often happens, team members end up contradicting themselves instead of moving in sync. “We don’t care where it goes; you know everybody; you know they contradict themselves a lot,” said ‘The Takeover’.

As far as he was concerned, Teofimo Lopez asserted that he was all in for making the best fights in the sport that would delight not just boxing fans but lovers of combat sports from across the world. But then why did he question the way some of the boxers, including Tank Davis, were leading their lives?

Let’s jump ahead! Teofimo vs. Terence Crawford

Speaking on the ‘Danza Project’, Teofimo Lopez seemed concerned that all the fame and wealth might be affecting some of the most well-known boxers of his generation. He said, “But I feel like people who sell their souls; you just want it quick.” Stressing how ‘Lucifer’ would extract his debts, he added further, “I’ve seen it with other fighters; I’ve seen it with other people that I grew up with in the amateurs, um, Tank and them; and it’s sad to see how they’ve turned around, but I get it. Part of me thinks about it like, Um, yeah, you’ve struggled, but you kind of quit when it got really, really hard.”

Then later, calling out Gervonta Davis ‘too p**sy’, he, instead of going down a division, would rather speed up his game and chase the top dog, which is Terence Crawford.

If one considers Lopez’s seriousness about Crawford, then it might make for an exciting line. But the bigger question is whether there is any chance of turning up at all. First of all, there’s no clarity as to whether ‘Bud’ would be interested in fighting Lopez. Second, he is already moving up to wage his next battle in the light middleweight division. to what end? Many feel it might be a step towards narrowing the weight difference between him and the undisputed super middleweight champion, Canelo Alvarez, in his curtain call fight. So where precisely does Teofimo Lopez stand in that grand scheme of things only time can tell? For now, the takeover might as well work towards title unification.

What’s your take? Why do you think Teofimo Lopez could be zigzagging on the Gervonta Davis fight issue?