Boxing
Teofimo Lopez plans to stay at lightweight if he beats Vasiliy Lomachenko for fights against Devin Haney, Ryan Garcia and Gervonta Davis
The assumption has been whether he wins, loses or draws in his fight with WBA, WBC and WBO lightweight champion Vasiliy Lomachenko that IBF titlist Teofimo Lopez would be moving up to 140 pounds.
Lopez has admittedly said he has had trouble making the 135-pound limit in the past. After the Lomachenko fight, tentatively set for Oct. 3, there are many big fights to be made in the division. Lopez could potentially square off with WBC champion Devin Haney or rising stars Ryan Garcia and Gervonta Davis.
Lopez spoke to Chris Mannix on DAZN's "Boxing with Mannix" and suggested that he would be willing to stay at lightweight if fights against those names could materialize.
"Absolutely," Lopez said. "I think with the Richard Commey fight, I made weight very easy. I didn't expect it to be that easy. I know I can definitely make 135 again very smooth.
"I just need to make sure 'Little Diva' (Lomachenko) isn't hiding in Egas (Klimas, Lomachenko's manager) room in his guest house during this quarantine because he's out there right now. People think he's in Ukraine, but he's not. He's in (Los Angeles). He's back."
With those names mentioned, along with Lopez and Lomachenko, the lightweight division has become one of the most star-studded weight classes in all of boxing. And should Lopez defeat arguably the sport's best pound-for-pound fighter to become the unified champion, then "The Lopez Era" will be underway.
"You have Shakur Stevenson, Devin Haney, Ryan Garcia, 'Tank' Davis," Lopez said. "The list goes on and on. These guys all have something, some type of attribute that makes the fans want to see them more. I'm very happy to be in that era now. Teofimo Lopez is the one that's definitely going to take over. How we're going to start, it is with this guy (Lomachenko) on Oct. 3."
