Ryan Garcia Teases A Teofimo Lopez Duel
In his last match, against Devin Haney, junior welterweight fighter “King Ry” Ryan Garcia (24-1, 20 KO’s) had his win changed to a ‘no contest’ and was suspended. This resulted from being flagged for the PED Ostarine. As such, the Haney rematch would seem to be the most logical and lucrative for both competitors. The trouble is that Garcia refuses to sign up for drug testing which Haney has established as mandatory. Yet, in unexpected fashion, Garcia boldly stated his next opponent could be WBO 140-pound champion Teofimo “The Takeover” Lopez (21-1, 13 KO’s).
The timing of his announcement is titillating for sure. Once flagged, Garcia’s suspension flung him into a year of professional purgatory. Now that his period of exile is almost up, a return duel versus Lopez would be a very fun match-up and eagerly received by the public. While making an appearance at the recent The Ring Magazine Awards ceremony, King Ry sprung the revelation on Seconds Out.
“It’s looking like I am going to fight Teofimo Lopez, so that’s good! I’ve seen him today, it’s a little strange but other than that I am ready to whip his ass!”
BURGUNDY VS MANTOOTH
There is no doubt that the comingling of their two names would make for an attractive event. Truthfully speaking, at the moment Garcia and Lopez are the two leading crash-out kings of the sport. Their interviews and social media posts routinely range from the mundane, to oily racism, padded room worthy theories to revealing personal confessions.
Said to say, their pre-fight insanity levels would almost certainly be off the chart. How they feed off one another would be a sight to see. Another question likely harbored by many: would the two fighters use such racially charged jargon when no one black is around? Another solid question is: Would the winner get full credit?
FIGHTING FOR THEIR LIFE HERE!
If being honest, The Takeover has been substantially written off by a great deal of fans as damaged goods. This stems from his numerous shaky performances over the past couple of years and increasingly brainsick public image. Likewise, Garcia continues to willingly walk under this dark cloud of drug suspicion. Countless fans want to know if he is actually a clean boxer, yet he leaves it an open-ended mystery.
Both men suffer from serious, self-admitted mental issues with Lopez going so far as to saying he’s thought about suicide. Both King Ry and The Takeover have had well-documented “daddy issues”. This could be even more detrimental to Lopez as his father also serves as his chief second in the ring. Both have publicly embraced becoming wonton womanizers after suffering emotional public splits with their kids’ mothers.
With all of the in-ring and out-of-the-ring drama that Ryan Garcia and Teofimo Lopez are dealing with, it’d be easy to say that either was distracted on fight night. And therefore not at their sharpest, top game. In the end though, we all are navigating our own personal storms. And the bills have to be paid no matter how you feel.
So, let’s see if King Ry and The Takeover can master their individual situations and put together a splendid duel with one another.
Be the first to comment