Wearing a dark, scary vampire look at the Ring Awards on Saturday, Teofimo Lopez says he decided not to fight Subriel Matias because he didn’t want to be “staircase” to help the recently defeated IBF light heavyweight champion.
He says Matias wouldn’t have won the fight and didn’t feel he had anything to gain by helping the former champion rebuild. Although he helped Theo rebuild after his loss, he saw no point in helping someone else in the same position he was in in 2021.
Furthermore, Lopez (21-1, 13 KOs) says he wanted to “greater guarantee” after Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said the fight wasn’t worth the PPV. It is unclear what kind of money Teofimo, 27, wanted to receive from Top Rank as his “insurance”, but the deal could not be done.
Teofimo is now sitting on the shelf without a fight, having already been out of the ring for seven months since his harder than expected win over journeyman Steve Clagett on June 29 last year.
Lopez says Matias was the only option Top Rank gave him. It wasn’t “more options” and he states that he “put his foot down” because he was tired of the “take it or leave it” fights that were offered to him.
“I feel like it’s time for bigger and better fights.” Matias is trying to recover from the loss to Liam Paro in his country,” said Teofimo Lopez. Fight Hub TV on why he turned down the fight against Subriel Matias. “I think that way I’m going to be a pillar for that guy?”
“He won’t win.” Of course not. Bob Arum, CEO of Top Rank, mentioned that the fight was not worth the pay-per-view. I agree. Bob Arum, chairman, said that. Whoever was involved in this situation really wanted to push the PPV.
“I said if that’s the case, I need insurance. “Give me a bigger guarantee and then we can start talking about the fight.” Now I’m ready to fight.’ Things did not come to light. They knocked him down. “They said I came in bad faith to fight, but in reality they only gave us one option,” Lopez said.
In hindsight, Teofimo made the right decision not to fight Matias (21-2, 21 KOs) because there was a good chance he would lose to him. Matias would thrive against Lopez’s fighting style, and he’s on a different level to George Kambosos Jr., who has proven to be Theo’s kryptonite.
New York native Lopez can’t handle fighters under pressure. We saw that against Kambosos, Jamaine Ortiz, and in the later rounds of his 2020 upset win over Vassily Lomachenko in 2020.
“There were no more fighter options, and they didn’t want to do unifications,” Teofimo said of Top Rank. “They didn’t want to pay certain fighters k amount of dollars.” I just don’t understand. I feel like I’ve been shot. So I will take it as my opinion as my market.”
It’s understandable why Top Rank wouldn’t pay an arm and a leg for Teofimo to unify against one of the other champions because it wouldn’t be a PPV. He’s not popular enough, and the other champs at 140 aren’t big names.
Light Heavyweight Champions
– Jose “Rayo” Valenzuela
– Richardson Hitchins
– Alberto Puelo
“You have to think about it as a business perspective, and I’m coming into this year,” Teofimo said. “Wouldn’t you rather see it on lineal TV open to the public, not in the first year of my return in 2025, doing PPV? Why should I charge you? You are here to watch us. It should be free. ESPN and the network, they still get their cut, and so do we. Let’s leave it open for everyone.
“I just put my foot down. I used to fight ‘take it or leave it’ for you (Top Rank), and I just can’t do it anymore,” Lopez said.
