Like the rest of us, Oscar De La Hoya was mightily impressed by the way Teofimo Lopez defeated pound-for-pounder Vasyl Lomachenko on Saturday night in Las Vegas. Speaking with TMZ Sports, De La Hoya went as far as to say Lopez, 16-0(12) is “the future of the lightweight division.” Oscar said there are a whole lot of great and big fights out there for 23 year old Lopez, and he was quick to point to a fight between Lopez and his fighter Ryan Garcia as one of them.
However, as we know, Lopez, along with his father and trainer, is speaking of perhaps making the move up to 140 pounds, where he would be more comfortable having struggled “for years” to make the 135 pound limit. But might Lopez have one, maybe two additional fights at lightweight before me packs on those additional five pounds? De La Hoya says that a fight between Lopez and the also unbeaten Garcia would be “Fernando Vargas Vs. De La Hoya all over again.”
“If you saw the fight, Lomachenko came in strong toward the end, but it was too late,” De La Hoya said of Saturday’s big fight. “Teofimo looked amazing. He stepped it up. He showed his true colors. That [a fight between Lopez and Garcia] will be like Fernando Vargas Vs. De La Hoya all over again, bro – I mean, that’s a classic. I think both guys are skilled, amazing fighters. That will be a classic.”
First up, Garcia, 20-0(17) must come through his career-toughest fight, when he will face Luke Campbell in December (Campbell having given Lomachenko a good fight last year). And then, even if he’s victorious, Garcia will, like the rest of us, have to wait and see what superstar in the making Lopez does next; whether he stays at 135 or not. There are plenty of fighters calling Lopez out right now – Devin Haney, Tank Davis, Lomachenko perhaps will want a rematch, and one or three other guys.
But De La Hoya is already hyping up a Lopez-Garcia showdown. The fight De La Hoya had with Vargas back in 2002 was indeed a great fight, and a grudge-match. But, if Oscar sees a Lopez-Garcia fight as being very similar to De La Hoya-Vargas, who does he feel will do what he did and come out the winner?
