Teofimo Lopez Rejects Any Notion of Facing Keyshawn Davis
As of late, WBO junior welterweight champion Teofimo “The Takeover” Lopez (21-1, 13 KO’s) has conjured up several confusing rationales for sidestepping fights. His latest fight hurdle was prescribed for swiftly rising and presently red-hot lightweight boxer Keyshawn “The Businessman” Davis (12-0, 8 KO’s). Davis is coming off a two-round demolition of Gustavo Lemos and his name is ringing louder than ever. No doubt louder than Jermaine Ortiz and certainly Steve Claggett. Still, Lopez remains apathetic.
Rather than enjoying an impending weight advantage over the Olympic silver medalist, The Takeover wants Davis to first become a champion. Prior to facing Josh Taylor, Lopez went above and beyond the call of duty to say that the belts were of no consequence. Instead, The Takeover believed glory was found in scalping a particularly dangerous fighter, not acquiring hardware. So why this paradigm shift now? Here is Lopez in a recent livestream:
“To get with me, he [Davis] got to go to ‘40, win a title and we do it. I’m so happy that he said he did what he did, but he fought a nobody! Who can say that? That’s crazy, man! No guys, I am not going to fight Keyshawn! I’m not fighting Haney either!”
OPERATION: HEADLESS CHICKEN
So Lopez requires officially notarized opposition to be interested. Then wouldn’t it make perfect sense to dance with fellow titlist “Fearless” Shakur Stevenson – the WBC lightweight champion? Once again though, The Takeover is prepared with another oddball barrier.
In this case, Lopez has stated that his intense samurai-like level of respect for Stevenson’s manager, J Prince, will not allow him to face Fearless. The fact that Stevenson, J Prince and the public would love the fight apparently is not enough. It really forces one to ask: what is Lopez in it for at this point in his career?
The only people that The Takeover seem to be interested in are Terence Crawford and Gervonta Davis. And both of them have ignored him with tactical military grade efficiency. Lopez never mentions #1 (WBA) ranked Arnold Barboza and he seems to have zero intention of facing Devin Haney, either. Yet, what other viable matches are equal to or better than these?
WHAT’S THE MOVE THEN?!
Ideally, this is all a smokescreen and Lopez’s team is ardently working behind the scenes to get one or more of these duels put together. If not, it will be awful revealing to see who The Takeover does deem to be worth his time. Until then, we will have to keep our ears close to the ground to find out what’s next.
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