Teofimo Lopez dismissed Shakur Stevenson’s call out of him at 140, letting him know he needed to remain in his lane at 135.
Shakur (21-0, 10 KOs) is seeking to expand his reach beyond the lightweight division, where he’s been avoided by the highest fighters by calling out guys at 140, like Teofimo, the WBO light welterweight champion.
Is Money the Motivating Factor?
Teofimo (20-1, 13 KOs) says Shakur needs to remain at 135 and fight more aggressively because his hit-and-not-get-hit style isn’t cutting it. With that style, Stevenson cannot get the fights he wants against him.
It’s hypocritical for Teofimo to reject a fight against Shakur based on fighting a weight class below him at 135 because, in the identical interview, Teo called out Terence Crawford, who fights at 154. Teofimo called out Crawford, telling him they may meet at 147.
Perhaps Teofimo, 26, shouldn’t be involved in fighting Shakur because there’s no money in a fight against him because of his lack of stardom and his not being a ticket seller.
Teofimo can’t expect to make mega-millions on PPV fighting Shakur Stevenson like he could if he could in a clash against Crawford, who has change into a star after being blessed by Errol Spence, who turned him into an attraction along with his Midas touch last July.
Lopez Criticizes Stevenson’s Fighting Style
“I do know you might be calling us out at 140, but you’re fighting at 135. Stay in your lane,” said Teofimo Lopez to the Danza Project, giving lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson the brush-off, letting him know he’s not involved in fighting him at 140.
“I do know that you just got to maintain yourself relevant, but there’s a style of relevancy you bought to do. Which means you bought to fight; you actually got to fight,” said Teofimo, meaning that Shakur has got to be willing to face within the pocket and exchange along with his opposition quite than using his usual elusive hit-not-get-hit fighting style.
Teofimo defends his WBO light welterweight title on June twenty ninth against fringe contender Steve Claggett on the James L. Knight Center in Miami, Florida. In keeping with Teo, he’s defending against Claggett (38-7-2, 26 KOs) because not one of the champions at 140 wish to fight him.
Undercard Highlight
On the undercard, former WBO featherweight champion Robeisy Ramirez (13-2, 8 KOs) faces Brandon Leon Benitez (21-2, 9 KOs) in a 10-round co-feature bout.
That is two-time Olympic gold medalist Robeisy’s first fight back since losing his WBO 126-lb title to Rafael Espinoza by a 12-round majority decision last December. Robeisy was punished heavily within the Espinoza fight, and it could be interesting to see how he performs against Benitez this Saturday night.
