Teofimo Lopez has reportedly officially vacated his WBO light welterweight and has retired from the sport, ending his seven-year pro career on a high note having beaten former undisputed 140-lb champion Josh Taylor last Saturday night at the Hula Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Many boxing fans believe this is a Tyson Fury type of short retirement for Teofimo, and he’ll be back soon once his money starts running out or he gets bored with sitting around and not receiving the attention from fans.
Whether Teofimo (19-1, 13 KOs) comes out of retirement or not will be determined by his state of mind and if he gets a big enough offer to lure him back.
He says he wants a $100 million+ three to five-year contract, but it’s believed that he has three years left on his existing contract with Top Rank.
Just now @TeofimoLopez is texting me that he relinquished his Jr welterweight title..We should respect his decision…If he come back, wbo doors will be always open for him..@pugboxing @DanRafael1 @JakeNDaBox @LoMejorDelBoxeo @MikeCoppinger @ChavaESPN @NotiFight @WorldBoxingOrg
— Paco Valcárcel, Esq. (@PacoValcarcel) June 15, 2023
It’s unlikely they’re going to agree to pay Teofimo the money he’s asking for just so he can come off retirement and finish his remaining three years.
Did fear cause Teofimo to retire?
Teofimo is leaving the sport without fighting the true killers at 140 in Regis Prograis and Subriel Matias. Josh Taylor was NOT the best at the time Teofimo fought him, as he’s been arguably beaten in his previous fight against Jack Catterall.
The way Teofimo has retired without fighting Prograis & Matias, it gives fans the impression that he knew he would lose to them. So rather than fight them and watch his career sink once again, he quit.
Some would argue that Taylor was overrated to begin with, as he should have lost his fights against Regis Prograis and Jose Ramirez. Against Prograis, Taylor got the benefit of generous scoring in London.
Prograis dominated Taylor after he figured him out after the fifth round, and appeared to sweep the second half of the fight. In Taylor’s win over Jose Ramirez, he got away with a knockdown on the break and landed a lot of what some felt were cheap shots in the clinch.
“He closed the show in spectacular fashion. He took away everything. Took the confidence from Taylor, took the power
from Taylor and by the way, he looked so much better,” said Andre Ward to Top Rank Boxing about Teofimo Lopez.
“No excuses. I lost to the better man on the night. The best of me beats the best of Teofimo Lopez every day of the week, but on the night, he was the better man,” said Taylor after the fight. “They spent their hard-earned money to come support me, but I’ll be back.”
“I think by the fourth round, I had already figured him out. He dips this way. Let me dip that way,” said Teofimo. “Having fun and just showing that skill. I’ve been moving a lot, and we’ve fixed what was the issue.
“Now, I went from ‘Takeover’ to worldwide ‘Takeover.’ This is what we do best. You know the deal. We beat the man of the hour, the man power. We put a little sauce and some Brooklyn in there,” said Teofimo.
