Teofimo Lopez’s refusal to fight Matias highlights his failure

Promoter Bob Arum is frustrated with what he can do for Teofimo Lopez after his latest rejection of a fight with Subriel Mathias. The high-ranking boss has suggested a fight for WBO light welterweight champion Tefimo (21-1, 13 KOs).

The Fall of Teofimo

Lopez lacks self-awareness and doesn’t realize it. The stock went down After being defeated by George Cambossos. He can’t call the shots and get the fight he wants. What’s more, Teo turns down offers to help him rebuild his brand.

Fans don’t think much of Teofimo anymore, and the newbies don’t have a clue who he is. His recent performance at Journey Man Steve Clagett It was an awful display of the level at which he was operating.

Arum isn’t saying who he’ll face Lopez next, but if he’s lucky, he could get a chance to fight Ryan Garcia if Devin Haney is beaten in their rematch this year. Garcia will win the fight easily, and if he doesn’t repay himself with incredible interest, he’ll need Teofimo next. Lopez should understand that he is not the A-sider for the fight against Hani and Ryan. It can be said that there are more names than that.

In the year It wouldn’t have been if Teofimo had looked awful in every fight since 2021 when he narrowly beat Vassily Lomachenko. Something changed in Theo after that fight, and some believe that. His penalty in that horrible match ruined him. Now he looks clueless in the ring, and talks nonsense during interviews.

feel like It ends badly Between Arum and Teofimfo, like Brooklyn, the New York native is ruining his career by opposing the fight. Theo is now like a fast growing cancer. There may be no way to cut it.

So far, Lopez has not shown any ability to overcome serious opposition. He has struggled against contenders, losing to Jorge Cambossos Jr. and being handed two controversial decisions against Jamaine Ortiz and Sandor Martin. Many fans feel that Teofimo won both fights, which means his true record should be 19-3, not 21-1.

Frustration of Arum

Although Arum has not given up on the once-promising 27-year-old Lopez, he appears hopeless. Teofimo has underperformed in five of his six fights since 2021, and he still believes he is the superior fighter. He spends his time calling out fighters above their class like Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis and Terence Crawford.

Arum might have been better off washing Teofimo’s hands and saying ‘good riddance’. While things are going well for him from 2018 to 2020, he won’t change his career to become the fighter many fans envisioned. Again, Lomachenko is where things changed. Teofimo is not the same fighter.

Some of it is probably because he doesn’t fight at 135 and doesn’t have the size advantage he likes against smaller fighters at lighter weight. If you compare Teofimon’s size to Lomachenko on fight night, it’s clear that he was competing out of his weight class.

Lopez looked average after moving up to 140 and had to lose twice to Jamain and Sandor. You can only imagine what talents like Jose ‘Rio’ Valenzuela, Alberto Purlo, Ryan and Hani could do if Teofimo fought him now.

Bob Arum on Teofimo Lopez: “The question is, what does he refuse? where is his head Who does he want to fight? We gave him a whole fighting team. And he is not showing good works. He looked terrible with (Jamain) Ortiz and people thought he lost that… pic.twitter.com/P2JM1gG9iZ

— Ring Magazine (@ringmagazine) January 14, 2025