Boxing
Lopez cites his biggest lessons learned from the loss to Stevenson
Romero vs Lopez: DAZN PPV & Prime Video - Saturday
Shakur Stevenson separated himself from Teofimo Lopez Jr. , and arguably the rest of the super lightweight division in January, by masterfully working behind the jab in nearly shutting out the Brooklyn, New York native. Stevenson snatched Lopez’ WBO and The Ring titles in the process, while declaring himself the face of boxing .
The painful, lopsided loss taught Lopez priceless lessons that he’ll look to apply Saturday night in challenging for Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero’s WBA welterweight world title in Las Vegas, and live on DAZN PPV and Prime Video.
Tensions and accusations build in Romero vs. Lopez Face Off
BUY NOW: Watch Romero vs. Lopez exclusively on DAZN PPV & Ultimate Tier
For starters, the defeat reminded the 29-year-old star to be more in tune with his physical cadence.
“I think the biggest thing I learned from it is you just got to listen to your body when it comes to a point where you’re at the pinnacle of your career and top of the food chain,” Lopez offered during a recent Zoom interview with DAZN News .
“It’s no wrong what you do with your career if it’s for the better of yourself.”
Though Lopez was able to use his sweet science acumen to outpoint the wizardry of Vasiliy Lomachenko back in October 2020, he couldn’t figure out the boxing brilliance of Stevenson, who kept Lopez in range at the end of his jab and drew from apt counterpunches to score a wide unanimous decision.
Stevenson was so successful with the jab that it triggered Lopez (22-2, 13 KOs) into consciously reverting to utilizing the stick more, beginning with this weekend against Romero (17-2, 13 KOs).
“I think establishing more of my jab,” Lopez conceded. “It’s being more comfortable and at ease with my style than trying to pick up a style that I’ve been trying to work on for years.
“I think it’s more so … perfecting my craft that got me here for so long,” he added. “That’s with the jab, jabs to the body and just having fun in there.”
The latter was missing from his training camp for Stevenson, with Lopez admitting that “things were just too heavy” entering that mega fight. To truly get back to being ‘The Takeover,” Lopez wants to inject more enjoyment into this bounce-back attempt.
“Although we’re focused on the fight,” he said, “we’re just having fun on the way to the fight.”
How will Lopez look after a loss?
Analysis: DAZN News’ Mark Lelinwalla
The only other time Teofimo Lopez Jr. lost — to George Kambosos Jr. in a November 2021 upset — he responded to defeat by moving up in weight and capturing another title.
His brilliant unanimous decision over Josh Taylor put the first blemish on the Scottish fighter’s pro ledger and boosted Lopez to WBO and The Ring super lightweight title glory. It was the highlight of a six-fight winning streak, which had Lopez defending his crown three times.
That said, he finds himself in a similar position Saturday night, when he’ll look to rebound from a defeat by clinching a world title in a new division — welterweight.
There is no shame in losing to a generational talent in Shakur Stevenson. It doesn’t strip Lopez’ star power of any luster or erode at his own greatness.
If anything, he can use the aforementioned lessons learned to propel his way to becoming a three-division world champion. I expect Lopez to look great against Rolando Romero, using his worldly sweet science skills to outpoint and possibly even stop the champ.
In fact, I believe Romero's rigid style is tailor-made for Lopez to get back to shining.
Romero vs. Lopez - Watch on DAZN PPV & Prime Video
The WBA welterweight title is on the line as Rolly Romero and Teofimo Lopez face off this Saturday, August 22, live on DAZN.
Buy as a one-off PPV, via DAZN on Prime Video, or included along with Moses vs. Hrgovic (Aug 29) and Canelo vs. Mbilli (Oct 31) PPVs with a DAZN Ultimate Tier subscription.
