Undisputed light welterweight champion Josh Taylor fired back at Teofimo Lopez, calling him an “insecure” person after hearing his comments about him ducking him.
Taylor (18-0, 13 KOs) believes that Teofimo (16-0, 12 KOs) as being the one that is doing the ducking by not staying at 135 to face Devin Haney to become the undisputed lightweight champion and facing Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis and Ryan Garcia.
Teofimo, 23, has all of a sudden become very careful with his match-making after beating Vasily Lomachenko last October.
Teo decided immediately after the fight that he wouldn’t give the former three-division world champion Lomachenko a rematch.
Further, Teofimo decided to fight his little-known IBF mandatory George Kambosos Jr and place it on pay-per-view on Triller.
Teofimo was supposed to fight Kambosos Jr last Saturday night, but he pulled out of the fight, saying that he had come down with COVID 19.
Many boxing fans believe the true reason for Teofimo pulling out of the fight was because of low ticket sales.
Taylor: Teofimo trying to cash-in
“That’s ridiculous,” said Josh Taylor when told that Teofimo Lopez said that he’s using his undisputed championship as cover to duck him.
“He’s the one that’s doing the ducking from his fights in his own division against your Haneys, [Ryan] Garcias, Tank Davis, and things like that.
“He’s got big fights and unfinished business to do at lightweight. I feel like he’s the one doing the ducking, he’s the one that’s doing the running from the fights in his weight.
“He’s using that to try and say he’s an undisputed champion at lightweight. He isn’t because Devin Haney has got the WBC. So he’s not the undisputed champion, he can’t be saying that, and he’s got to do that.
“I think he’s running away from getting the big fights. He’s using that to try and cash-in since beating Lomachenko.
“I think he’s insecure. I think he’s an insure. He’s shouting his mouth off because he wants to cash-in with what he’s got, that’s it,” said Taylor.
It does look a lot like Teofimo Lopez is trying to cash-in with the biggest money fights possible rather than stay in his own weight class at 135 and face Vasily Lomachenko in a rematch or battle Devin Haney.
Crawford fight could happen next
“I spoke to Bob [Arum] and we had discussions about what could happen next. That can happen in the next fight or two,” said Taylor about a match between him and Terence Crawford.
“I haven’t sat down and had a lengthy discussion of what’s happening. I’ll probably speak to him next week and see what’s happening.
“That fight [against Crawford] is easily made, we’re under the same umbrella. The only discussion we’ve got is where the fight is.
“Is it in Scotland or it in Madison Square Garden or Nebraska where he’s from or Vegas. It’s the only discussion to be had, really,” said Josh Taylor.
It would make things easier if Taylor chose to vacate his 140-pound titles and move up to 147 now rather than defending against his WBO mandatory Jake Catterall.
No one is interested in seeing that mismatch because Catterall doesn’t belong in the same ring as Taylor. Rather than waste time on Catterall, Taylor should vacate his WBO title and fight one of these guys:
- Teofimo Lopez
- Regis Prograis
- Terence Crawford
- Gervonta Davis
- Jose Ramirez – rematch
- Jose Zepeda
Taylor talks Ramirez fight
“I watched it back twice last week, and I think I could have gotten him out of there if I’d stepped on the gas a little bit more,” said Josh Taylor about his fight with Jose Ramirez.
“My hands were really hurting in the fight, and I thought I was miles ahead and I was quite easily outboxing.
“That’s why I put my foot off the gas and outmaneuvered him. I almost paid the price for it because the judges tried to do me over,” said Taylor.
The judges scored the fight fairly in giving Taylor a 12 round unanimous decision by the scores 114-112 x 3. It’s Taylor’s fault for letting his foot off on the gas pedal in the second half of the contest, which allowed Ramirez to rally.
If not for those two knockdowns Taylor scored in rounds six and seven, he likely would have lost. One of the knockdowns was a cheap shot in hitting on the break.
Yeah, it counted but it looked like a sneaky move, and it’s not something that Taylor can depend on to win fights in the future.
If Taylor doesn’t have the talent to beat guys like Teofimo or Crawford, he’s not going to be able to squeak out a narrow win by hitting on the break.
Taylor’s uppercut on Ramirez was not a cheap shot. What are you smoking mate?