Fight fans may have by now heard the latest craziness to emanate from the mouth of former lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez. Just weeks after his odd and at the same time offensive attack on the boxing commentators at ESPN – when Lopez accused Tim Bradley and Andre Ward of being biased towards him in his fights, before Lopez then came out with the remark, “If ESPN want the black fighters, they can keep them” – Lopez has stated how he wants to “Take Josh Taylor’s life.”
Back when he was berating ESPN, Lopez actually said that “One thing I love about my sport, I can kill a guy and get away with it, so it’s cool.”
It seems Lopez has a serious issue along these lines, with him now coming out and saying he wants to kill Taylor, who he is scheduled to fight on June 10 in New York in a 140 pound title bout.
Speaking with Punch Drunk Boxing, Lopez, 18-1(13) said that Taylor “has no heart,” and that all he can take from him is “his life.”
“No-one felt sorry for me when I was in the ICU after my fight [with George Kambosos],” Lopez began. “No-one said, ‘Teofimo, wish you well, hope you’re good.’ No-one wrote to me. This is a kill of be killed sport. I mean, someone just passed away May 6th, a kid 22 years old just passed away. And I said it like it is, I wanna kill Josh Taylor. What the f**k does that mean? People are like, ‘Let’s get back to boxing.’ But that is boxing. That is what we sign up for. You’re probably going to lose your life? What does that mean? I mean, if I’mma die in the ring, at least I’d die with some dignity and some integrity. That’s what I know. That’s what I signed up for. Boxing today is gladiator days back then.
“A lot of people don’t know that because they don’t know boxing. When I fought Vasiliy Lomachenko, I took his heart. Taylor’s got no heart, so what can I really take from this man? His life. The only way I’mma make a statement is by doing that. I’m not sorry about that. How do I scare people more than ever? Take a man’s life.”
I don’t know about you, but I’ve never before read such a vile and disgusting outpouring of crap from a professional boxer. Lopez, if he’s not banned, should face some sort of still penalty. Is Lopez coming out with the garbage he’s coming out with in an attempt at gaining as much publicity as he can, or does this fool actually mean what he says?
Lopez should be brought to task and made to explain his comments. The sport can do without this kind of talk, and if Lopez doesn’t apologise, the sport can do without him, too. It’s not like Lopez has shown much of anything in the ring just lately, anyway, is it? Yes, Lopez gets credit for the win over Loma, as well as the heart he showed in the loss to Kambosos.
And is this what his crazy talk is all about, that he never got what he feels was the credit he deserved for those performances? So, no-one wrote to Lopez when he was in the hospital after the loss to Kambosos! Lopez is a warrior, isn’t he? Yet it seems now he is sulking.
That or he has some serious mental issues that need sorting out. As for the Taylor fight, if it goes ahead, look for Taylor to hand Lopez a beating that perhaps ends the former lightweight champ’s time as an elite fighter. Maybe then we will never have to listen to Lopez talk again.