WBO light welterweight champion Josh Taylor (19-0, 13 KOs) is calling his fight against Teofimo Lopez (18-1, 13 KOs) this Saturday night a “must-win” for him because a loss here would slow him up from moving forward towards his goal of becoming a two-weight world champ.
Taylor wants to become a two-division world champion and a two-division undisputed champ, which has never been done before. Josh is 32 years old, and he will need to defeat Teofimo and move up to 147 soon because he’s been talking about doing so for two years already.
Taylor will defend against his fellow Top Rank fighter Teofimo this Saturday, June 10th, on ESPN & ESPN+ at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden, New York City. The streaming portion of the card begins at 10:00 p.m. ET.
Teofimo Lopez: “Tune on the 10th, and I truly believe that this is going to be another great fight and this is the fight of the century, not that [Ryan Garcia and Gervonta Davis fight this is the true Kingpin of it all,” said Teofimo Lopez to Top Rank Boxing about his title challenge of WBO light welterweight champion Josh Taylor this Saturday night.
“It’s the 100th year of the Ring Magazine. It’s the Rocky belt. I can’t wait. Yeah, I’m excited.”
Josh Taylor: “He’s right; it’s a big fight. It’s a great fight, it’s a huge fight, and it’s one that’s huge on both sides of the pond here and over there. So it’s got the people talking. It’s a big fight, absolutely.
“Everything’s a must-win fight; If this fight goes wrong or I get the wrong decision, it’s back to the drawing board for me, and the plans I have to be a two-weight world champion go way back.
“So, yes, every fight is a must-win fight. I have plans and ambitions I want to do. I want to be a two-weight world champion, a two-weight undisputed world champion. That’s something that no one in this sport has ever done. That’s the kind of goals I’ve got. So every fight is a must-win fight.
“I am a very proud fighting Scotsman, and that’s I’m very proud to
put my country on the map. The first world champion since Ken
Buchanan, who just recently passed away.
Teofimo: “That’s why he calls me a mouse because I don’t believe I lost that fight neither,” said Lopez about his defeat against George Kambosos Jr in 2021. “The referee raised my hand before they called it for Kambosos. I know how it works. I know the ones and twos.
“To me, it’s not really a loss. It’s just lessons. You learn how to maneuver after that. See, he doesn’t know what defeat tastes like yet. I’ve lost 21 times during my whole career, and I’m still going. People call me a legend, people call me the greatest, and it’s because of those reasons. We never stopped,” said Teofimo.
Taylor: “Who calls you the greatest? You call yourself the greatest?”
Teofimo: “I’m the double greatest. The greatest is Muhammad Ali, but I’m the double greatest. Technically with Taylor, he has good fundamentals. He tries to keep his distance. He catches his range, and he baits.
“There’s a lot of things that I could execute on those things that I understand from my experience, and this is what it is. If you say you’re the greatest, you got to prove it and fight the best guys in the game. That’s what I’m doing.
“We’ve asked for Josh Taylor for a long time, and we’ve worked our way. It’s not something that we’ve asked for to be let be given. Josh Taylor is the best guy that everyone wants, and I’m here, stepping on there with only three fights.
“This is my third fight technically at 140. A lot of you guys don’t know your research about Teofimo. That I fought a 140 before. You guys don’t know s**t about Teofimo, and I’m thankful for it. It’s perfect; it’s really perfect. This is technically my fourth fight at 140.”
