For some time now, Brooklyn man Teofimo Lopez has wanted and has been calling for a big fight with P-4-P king (in the opinion of most) Vasyl Lomachenko. Thanks to his handiwork last night, 22 year old Lopez might have got it. Blasting clean through the tough, previously unstopped Richard Commey to take the IBF lightweight title, Lopez has arrived on the big stage. And he is now on the radar of “Loma.”
“Now he’s a world champion. Welcome to my club,” Lomachenko said of Lopez when speaking with Bernardo Osuna last night. “See you in April.”
So we could get to see the master against the young terror in the spring. There are other big and exciting fights out there for both Lomachenko and Lopez, but together they might just gove us a classic in 2020. Lopez, born in New York and of Honduran parents, was a fine amateur, competing at the Olympics and winning a Golden Gloves title, and since going pro (boxing his debut on a big stage, on the under-card of Manny Pacquiao-Jessie Vargas) in November of 2016, Lopez has won 15 straight, all but three by KO or stoppage.
Lopez has seen off good fighters like Diego Magdaleno and now Commey, but is he ready for the sublime talents of Lomachenko? Lopez wants it, he has done for some time, and now he seems to be closer than ever to getting his big, big chance.
Fast, powerful and exciting to watch, Lopez could possibly be a future star of the lower weight classes. The current lightweight division is absolutely buzzing, with excellent fighters like Lopez, Devin Haney (who will be out of action for a while following surgery), Ryan Garcia and Luke Campbell all jockeying for supremacy beneath number-one Lomachenko. Might Lopez be the best of them?
If he can upset Lomachenko, we will have our answer writ large.
“”It was gonna be an explosive fight,” a victorious Lopez said of his win over Commey. “Any shot [from him] could’ve done the same thing [to me.] You guys know who I want. 2020, it’ll be going down.”
