Lopez described a fighter who wants space and rhythm. Someone who looks best when things stay clean and controlled. He made it clear he has no real interest in letting the fight go that way and talked about staying close enough that Stevenson doesn’t get to choose when and the way exchanges occur.
He kept coming back to the identical idea. Stay on him. Crowd him. Make him work every second.
You’ll be able to’t just coast if you’re headlining a pay per view. People didn’t buy this to look at a twelve round game of tag. They’re paying to see how Stevenson holds up once the pressure shows and he’s forced to scrap.
People have had the identical knock on Shakur for years. It comes back each time someone refuses to offer him air and makes him fight inside.
Lopez also isn’t buying the concept that Stevenson is taking some massive risk by moving as much as 140. To him, lightweight continues to be there waiting. If it doesn’t work, Stevenson can return to something familiar and regular himself with the WBC belt still around his waist.
“You selected me. I didn’t select you,” Lopez said within the video. “We’ll send you back to lightweight. You continue to got your WBC belt. You’re going to be superb.”
He then reached back to their shared amateur days, bringing up a sparring session from 2016 in Miami when each fighters were still teenagers. Lopez said he was landing freely until Stevenson stopped the session.
“I used to be getting the very best of him,” Lopez said. “Why do you think that he said, ‘Stop’? He said, ‘Stop recording.’”
How much weight a session from ten years ago carries now could be open to debate. Each fighters are different people. What matters more is the posture Lopez is bringing into this fight.
Teo is all in on the chase, planning to survive Shakur’s chest and smother him. The concept is to make it messy and exhausting, forcing Stevenson to fight back when there may be nowhere to drift.
