WBO light welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez has called out Ryan Garcia for a possible catchweight fight in September or December.
Garcia’s Higher Ambitions
Ryan hasn’t mentioned Lopez as one of the guys he’s interested in fighting, perhaps because his fights aren’t selling and he’s not a PPV attraction.
Popular social media star Ryan (25-1, 20 KOs) is coming off a big win over WBC light welterweight champion Devin Haney, and he’s looking for mega-fights against Gervonta Davis or Errol Spence.
“It doesn’t necessarily have to be in my weight class; it could be a catchweight, so we don’t have to have any problems moving forward,” Teofimo told Punsh Drunk Boxing.
Ryan would likely earn far less money from a Teofimo fight than he would from fighting Spence, Tank Davis, or even a rematch with Haney. Even if Ryan were interested, Teofimo would likely price himself out, and he will have wasted months of negotiations.
Teofimo (20-1, 13 KOs) is willing to move up in weight to fight Ryan above 140. Unfortunately for Teofimo, not much is going on with his career after his big win over Josh Taylor. He looked terrible in his last fight, winning a controversial decision against Jamaine Ortiz, and fans have forgotten him.
Lopez’s Diminished Stardom
The last performance by Teofimo against Jamaine seriously damaged his career. He was given a gift decision in Las Vegas, making it the second controversial decision in Teo’s last three fights that the boxing saw him lose. The other one was his 10-round split decision over Sandor Martin in 2022 in New York.
Teofimo didn’t offer Sandor or Jamaine a rematch, and now he wants Ryan Garcia to give him a fight. It doesn’t look good for Teofimo. Those controversial decisions are following Teofimo like a black cloud and they’re not going away. That’s why it would have been better if he’d given both of them rematches rather than walking away as if it was a job well down.
Teo’s star power has faded too much for him to get a fight against Ryan Garcia, and he needs to take a REAL risk with his career to try and drag himself out of the mud because he’s not going to get big names like him at this point.
Fighting guys like Steve Claggett, Pedro Campa, Jamaine Ortiz, and Sandor Martin is a dead end for Teofimo. He should have rematched Sandor and Jamaine but chose not to.
At this point, Teofimo should move up to 147 and fight Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis and deal with what comes from that fight. Moving up to 154 or 160 would be a good option as well for Teofimo. Another name is IBF light welterweight champion Subriel Matias. Teofimo has gone quiet about him, and some fans believe he’s scared.
He can take on one of the killers in those weight classes and try to redeem himself. If Teofimo stays at 140, his career is going to continue in the same downward spiral it’s been since his loss to George Kambosos Jr. in 2021.