It’s been three months since Teofimo Lopez lost to George Kambosos Jr. in a shocking upset on November 27th in New York, and he’s still pretty bitter about the defeat.
The former undisputed lightweight champion Teofimo (16-1, 12 KOs) wants his haters to know that he’s got a ton of endorsement deals after his 12 round split decision defeat against Kambosos Jr.
Teofimo, 25, will be moving up to 140 to campaign in the light welterweight division from this point.
In his first fight at 140, Teofimo will be taking on unbeaten Arnold Barboza Jr in April or May.
It’s a fight that should tell the boxing public whether Teofimo will be able to bounce back from his disappointing loss quickly.
It might be too good of an opponent for Teofimo’s first fight in the 140-lb division, but his promoters know what they’re doing. They wouldn’t be letting Teofimo take on a talented fighter like Barboza if they didn’t feel he could win.
As for his critics, Teofimo plans to use the criticism that he’s getting from boxing fans as fuel to bring him success.
Teofimo fires back at haters
“All I can say is this. Y’all keep hating on me. Those that support me, I love you. Those that keep hating on me, they just want to be like me,” said Teofimo Lopez on social media in giving an update on his life.
“I got Beets, I got Bud Lite, and next is going to be Nike,” said Teofimo in discussing his endorsement deals that he’s got going on. “You best believe that because I asked that to the universe, and I’m going to grant that.
“For all, y’all keep hating, keep doing that. Give me that energy. And last but least, f*** humble. It’s growth,” said a bitter-sounding Teofimo.
Lopez shouldn’t focus so much on what the fans are saying about him, considering they mean well. Teofimo made the mistake of staying at 135 after his win over Vasily Lomachenko in October 2020.
Teofimo labored in the second half of the Lomachenko fight, and it was clear then that he was too big for the division.
In the year that Teofimo waited to make his first defense of his four lightweight titles, he put on weight, and it took a lot of him to drain back down to 135 for the Kambosos Jr fight.
In hindsight, Teofimo should have vacated his titles after the Lomachenko fight and moved up to 140 rather than wasting an entire year.
Teofimo made a big deal taking the non-marquee title defense against then little known Kambosos to the purse bid process rather than letting his promoters at Top Rank show the fight on regular ESPN.
With the time that Teofimo wasted on the Kambosos fight, he could have fought three times in 2021 and made a lot more money than he did.
Gamache: Teofimo should have moved up earlier
“I know [Teofimo] Lopez really well. I was in his last two camps when he beat [Richard] Commey and when he beat Loma,” said Teofimo’s former coach Joey Gamache to Boxing Social.
“I was disappointed [by Teofimo’s loss to George Kambosos] because here’s a big lightweight that belongs at junior welterweight that wasn’t figured out to move him up to the next step.
“He probably felt that Kambosos was there to beat, and there was a lot of money on the table. Why not take advantage of being a unified champion.
“I think when you look back at it, it was a mistake because the move was the move him up [rather than letting Teofimo stay at 135 to face Kambosos].
“It was unfortunate that he lost the fight because he was champion when the titles could have been given up. But I’m sure he’ll come back strong and do well,” said Gamache.
Teofimo’s win over Lomachenko seemed to go to his head, making him believe that he was better than he was.
Instead of recognizing that his victory over Lomachenko resulted from the Ukrainian fighter competing with an injured right shoulder, Teofimo felt like his win was because of his exceptional talent.
Teofimo wanted no part of giving Lomachenko a rematch betrayed his lack of confidence.
If Teofimo believed in himself, he would have taken the bigger money fight against Lomachenko and vacated the IBF title to swerve the lower-paying mandatory defense against Kambosos.
“They’ve [Top Rank] have got to maneuver him [Teofimo] a little more now,” said Gamache. “They can’t just throw him deep end. He’s got to come back from that loss. It’ll be interesting to see where his career goes.
“There were a few things there,” said Gamache on why he wasn’t brought in for Teofimo’s training camp to prepare him for the Kambosos fight.
“Financially speaking, as far as they weren’t working with Top Rank at the time, even though Top Rank is their promoter, they got out-bid by Eddie Hearn [of Matchroom Boxing], and first was Triller.
“So that changed some of the dynamics there were expenses. There wasn’t money to be covered by Top Rank where they usually cover it. But they figured, ‘We’re not promoting it, so we’re not going to cover that.
“I would have liked to have been in the camp and seen them win, but this is boxing. This is how things happen. Sometimes big things are overlooked, and it’s difficult.
“I haven’t,” said Gamache when asked if he’d spoken to Teofimo since his defeat against Kambosos. “I haven’t talked to him. I got a lot of respect from him. He’s a good man; he’s a father and also the son, the father, we’ve all worked together.
“I know there have been some very critical errors of the father,” said Gamache about Teofimo Sr. “Hey, that’s boxing. You’re on top one minute, and the next minute, you can be in another place.
“But as far as I’m concerned, I don’t have a problem with them. I wish them nothing but the best. What will be will be,” said Gamache about Teofimo and his dad.
