Is Teofimo Lopez Still Falling from Grace?
When the boxing world last saw Teofimo “Take Over” Lopez (16-1, 12 KO’s) enter the ring, he did so as a unified champion. Yet, when he descended the ring steps to leave, he did so three belts lighter. This is because, after twelve hard-fought rounds, Lopez was saddled with a split decision loss to Australian underdog George Kambosos. This bout actually would go on to become 3Kings Boxing’s Upset of the Year.
Naturally, Lopez did not take kindly to the defeat and vowed to move up to super lightweight to begin a new campaign. Since his loss, the Take Over has remained relatively quiet. Yet over the past couple of days Lopez has made numerous posts alluding to some form of calamity in his personal life.
Understandably, this may be somewhat distressing to his team and supporters. There is already a widespread belief that the greatest contributor to his loss to Kambosos was not being focused mentally on the fight. If this mental distraction has not been buttoned up, there is a great probability he could experience further difficulty on the 140-pound landscape.
CHIN UP!
Assuming that Lopez was still aching mentally over his first professional loss, then he would not be lonesome. As more respect and urgency is placed on mental health in the greater society at large, more and more fighters have stepped up to talk about their experiences. Recently, Lorenzo Simpson and the popular Ryan Garcia both briefly stepped away from the sport citing mental health reasons as their rationale.
If the Take Over wants to establish any semblance of his dominance at 140 that he did at 135, he must iron out those psychic wrinkles. Let’s hope that there is no major fire attached to this small trail of smoke. Although, Lopez doesn’t even have a fight signed yet. Said to say, he has time to work through his issues. Otherwise, it would be a real shame if he was not able to return to form in style. In the end though, as always, regardless of what the next chapter for Teofimo Lopez holds, 3Kings Boxing will be there to report the news.
Reading Time: 3 minutes
By: Bakari Simpson
