Bob Arum says he’d like to make a fight between Luke Campbell and Teofimo Lopez next year if Campbell (20-3, 16 KOs) wins his upcoming January 2nd clash against Ryan Garcia.
Campbell and Garcia (20-0, 17 KO) are headlining on DAZN to fight for the interim WBC lightweight title at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.
The World Boxing Council ordered the Garcia – Campbell fight as a final eliminator to challenge WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney.
This week, Campbell’s promoter Eddie Hearn was adamant about the winner of the Campbell – Garcia fight needing to take on Haney (25-0, 15 KOs) for his WBC 135-lb title.
If Arum is going to be able to lure Campbell, 33, into facing his fighter IBF/WBA/WBC Franchise/WBO champ Teofimo (16-0, 12 KOs), he’s going to need to make a sizable offer.
Even then, you can bet that Hearn will be working hard to make sure that Campbell faces Haney.
Arum hoping to make Teofimo vs. Campbell
“Luke Campbell, if he beats [Ryan] Garcia, I would love to make a Lopez vs. Campbell fight,” Arum said to IFL TV.
That really stunned me that fight, not that I didn’t give [Teofimo] Lopez a chance to win, but I didn’t realize that for all his talk and all his KO record that he was a superb boxer,” said Arum about Teofimo’s win over Lomachenko.
“He boxed his ears off of Lomachenko, who I guess was figuring, would let Lopez punch himself out, and he would take care of him. Lopez was in containment, really reserved his resources, and just outboxed Lomachenko for the first five rounds.
“Lomachenko then came on, and Lopez had enough left to win the last round after Lomachenko had won a whole group of those latter last rounds. It was a really terrific fight; Lopez showed that he belongs,” said Arum.
The Golden Boy promoted Ryan Garcia has already said that he wants to take on WBA World lightweight champion Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis next if he gets by Campbell on January 2nd.
In fact, that’s all Ryan has been talking about is him wanting to fight Tank on pay-per-view in a stadium. Tank’s promoters at Mayweather Promotions seem to like the idea of having him fight Ryan, so it should be an easy fight to make.
Arum had previous expressed interest in a fight between Teofimo and Ryan Garcia, but he’s saying anything now. It could be that Arum realizes that Ryan is going to go in another direction if he beats Campbell.
Bob reacts to Teofimo’s conversation with Hearn
“Yes, I did,” Arum said when asked if he saw the clip of Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn speaking with Teofimo last Saturday night after the Canelo Alvarez vs. Callum Smith fight.
“One thing, the Lopez’s, both the father and son, you can’t shut them up. They’ll talk smack with anybody. They gave it to Eddie. Eddie is trying to push Devin Haney, and Haney is a good young fighter but completely untested.
“He struggled [last November] with a 38-year-old [Yuriorkis] Gamboa, who is not even in that weight class. I would like Lopez to fight the winner of Garcia – Campbell, which takes place on January 2nd.
“I think Teofimo’s father said that’s what it would take Eddie to get Teofimo in the ring with Haney,” said Arum in talking about Teofimo Sr telling Hearn that he will need to come up with $10 million for his son Lopez to face Haney.
“But that’s all talk. These guys [Teofimo] never made seven figures until the Lomachenko fight, and now it’s in the stratosphere.
“He should consider himself fortunate that they didn’t ask him for $20 million. He’s [Teofimo Jr] 23, and it’s amazing,” said Arum.
Teofimo’s dad told Eddie Hearn that they want $10 million for Lopez Jr to face his fighter, Devin Haney. Hearn reacted by saying that Teofimo’s WBC Franchise title isn’t a real title.
Teofimo Sr feels that his son is worth $10M because he holds all the belts, but quite rightly pointed out that he holds 3 of the titles at 135 because the Franchise belt is fake.
For a fight between Teofimo and Haney to occur, Arum and Hearn will need to sit down and talk. Right now, Teofimo Sr says it’s not worth it to make the fight with Haney because his resume is too thin.