Teofimo Lopez says he is interested in next defending his WBO light heavyweight title against Ryan Garcia. Lopez (21-1, 13 KOs) says he’s “the king of the 140 lb division” and would offer Ryan 55-45 split with it as the B-side. That obviously wasn’t going to go down well with Ryan, just like Devin Haney wasn’t interested in it.
Ryan (24-1, 20 KOs) is unlikely to accept any offer that includes Teofim and has him as the A-side. Teofimo is not popular enough to negotiate with Ryan in a fight.
Titles are not important
Lopez feels his WBO means something in negotiations with Ryan, Haney and George Cambosos, which doesn’t count for much. Winning a world title means nothing when negotiating with popular contenders; in this case, Ryan is far more popular than Teofimo because of his 12 million Instagrams followers.
Theo’s 15 minutes of fame disappeared after his loss to George Kambossos in 2021 and two controversial wins over Sandor Martin and Jaymain Ortiz. You could argue that Teofimo is less popular now than he was in 2020 when he beat the injured, one-armed Vasily Lomachenko by a close 12-round unanimous decision.
Many fans believe that Top Rank protected Teofim with their matchmaking and that he would be nowhere without them. It is believed that if he was not well connected with Top Rank, he would have suffered defeats in fights with Sandor Martin and Jamaine Ortiz.
Since then, Teofimo has been in freefall, with repeated poor performances and zero wins over popular fighters. Sorry, washed up Josh Taylor doesn’t count. It’s Teofim’s best win since his 2020 win over the injured Vasily Lomchenko.
King Complex?
Teofimo’s Top Rank situation is murky right now, and it’s unclear if he’ll be in a position to fight anyone, least of all Ryan with a 55-45 split.
“Right now, Ryan doesn’t have a fight,” Teofimo said when told Ryan Garcia wants to fight him. I’ll see if I call Oscar (De La Hoya) and see what he has. Everything has to make sense. It can’t be, ‘Hey, let’s fight.’ Desire, no,” said Teofimo Lopez A small giant box about his interest in fighting Ryan Garcia.
“We have to give them something to be interested in it.” I try to be honest as best I can. I think it’s a 55-45 split, knowing that I’m the King of my division at 140 lbs, defending the WBO world title and Ring Magazine on top of that, which is linear. Yes, 55-45 seems like a reasonable split.
Teofimo is NOT the light heavyweight king, as we saw in his fights against Sandor Martin and Jamaine Ortiz. He was gifted with decisions in both of those fights. If Theophimus thinks that he is king in the sense that he is more popular than anyone else, he is excluded. Devin Hanney, Ryan and Liam Paro are more popular.
The best fighters at 140
Liam Parro
Devin Haney
Arnold Barboza Jr
Jose Ramirez
Ryan Garcia
Alberto Puello
Jose ‘Rajo’ Valenzuela
Jack Catterall
Gary Antoine Russell
Jamaine Ortiz
Sandor Martin
Oscar Duarte
Subriel Mathias
Ryan is unable to fight because of the suspension, which does not end until the end of April 2025. When Ryan resumes his career, he will likely be fined. So if Teofimi thinks Ryan is going to fight him right away in April, he’s kidding himself.
“It’s really 5% if you think about it, because if you cut off the other 5, it’s either going to taxes or it’s going to your team.” If Rian is watching. You have no quarrel, brother. You’re in the same predicament I was in Fanmi until Golden Boi allows it. I think he will, but we have to see,” Lopez said.
