Teofimo Lopez has announced his retirement from boxing on social media after his win over WBO light welterweight champion Josh Taylor last Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Interestingly, Teofimo (19-1, 13 KOs) still hasn’t vacated his newly won WBO & Ring Magazine 140-lb titles for some reason. It’s unclear whether Teofimo is keeping these belts for heirloom purposes to pass down or if this is a Tyson Fury type of retirement.
There’s a retirement in the real sense, and then there’s the fake kind designed to get cheap attention. Teofimo can’t sit on his two belts like a mother hen waiting for them to hatch. Those belts have got to bee given up if he doesn’t want to continue his career.
If Teofimo is truly retired, he must give up his WBO & Ring Magazine 140-lb belts because he can’t hold onto them permanently to keep them hostage.
Once Teo relinquishes his titles, the boxing public can take him more seriously about his retirement claims.
Some would argue that the fighter that should be retiring right now is Josh Taylor because he’s the one that lost badly last night, and that was his second straight poor performance since last year.
A lot of boxing fans believe Taylor was gifted a decision sixteen months ago in his fight against Jack Catterall, and that was against a fighter that is arguably a fringe-level guy.
Catterall isn’t viewed as one of the more talented contenders. The Catterall fight showed that Taylor is no longer the same fighter that beat Regis Prograis by a questionable decision in 2019 and Jose Ramirez in 2021.
Kellerman labels Teofimo “undisputed champion”
“That’s a great fight that’s unlikely to happen for promotional issues, but it’s a great fight. They’re both twitchy, skillful, and power-punching fighters,” said Max Kellerman to the media when asked about his thoughts on a fight between Teofimo Lopez and Gervonta Davis.
“He [Teofimo Lopez] has a ton of options. He has a Lomachenko rematch. He could do a Kambosos rematch just to do it. You could put him with Haney because Haney’s moving up, and he’s the undisputed [at 135].
“I was about to say, Haney, except Lopez has sudden power, and we’ve seen Haney hurt by shots like that. That’s kind of a pick ’em kind of fight.
“No,” said Kellerman when asked if he believes Teofimo will actually retire. “He might feel that way right now, but he’s very, very good at what he does. He’s 25 years old, and he’s the undisputed junior welterweight [correction: Teofimo won the WBO 140-lb title against Taylor. He is NOT the undisputed light welterweight champion, as Kellerman erroneously claims].
“He’s undisputed because Prograis had a belt. They unified it. Him and Josh Taylor unified the belts [in 2019]. Josh won all the belts, and he’s never lost, and he’s never left his division, and he didn’t retire. So explain how he’s not undisputed. He is undisputed,” said Kellerman
Max Kellerman to mention that Taylor vacated his IBF, WBA & WBC 140-lb titles, which means he was no longer undisputed when Teofimo fought him last Saturday night. When a person quits their job and is no longer working at a place, they can’t continue to say they’re working there without being exposed as a pathetic liar or delusional.
“No one has a legitimate claim to dispute his [Taylor] claim as junior welterweight champion,” said Kellerman with his wacky, backwards logic. “Now that Teo beat him, now Teo’s undisputed. He’s undisputed. There’s no legitimate dispute to his claim as the Kingpin of the department,” said Kellerman.
No, Teofimo is NOT the king of the 140-lb division. He’s just a guy that beat a faded Josh Taylor, who was arguably beaten in his last fight by Jack Catterall. For Teofimo to become the “kingpin” of the 140-lb division, he must beat these three champions:
- Regis Prograis
- Subriel Matias
- Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero
You don’t get to call yourself the undisputed 140-lb champion without beating all the belt-holders to earn that distinction. Knowledgeable boxing fans will laugh at Teofimo if he tried to pass himself off as the undisputed champion, and the casuals won’t care.
The word “undisputed” means nothing to casual boxing fans. Only hardcore boxing fans know about this stuff, and they would see Teofimo as a liar or delusional if he tries to pass himself off as the undisputed champion at light welterweight.
