Teofimo Lopez praises Jake Paul, but demands return of 'real ones'

Lopez became one of the biggest names in boxing in an extremely competitive lightweight division when he beat Vasiliy Lomachenko in 2020 and is set for a defence against George Kambosos Jr. on October 16.

Speaking on the DAZN Boxing Show, he acknowledged the effort put into the sport like celebrities such as Jake Paul.

“It seems like he's taking it serious,” he conceded. “I get that he’s taking it serious, I love the fact that I see all these artists is going into the gym and they doing boxing.

“It's cool they doing that... but there's real champions out there that are putting their hard work in too as. The same thing, man, we put up blood, sweat and tears into this. 

“I ain't hating on a grind, I tell you that much. But I just feel like we got to shift it again. We need boxing, we need real ones back. You know, [Muhammad] Ali — that time, that era man. I feel like my sport went too soft.”