Teofimo Lopez Race-baits and Still Can’t Land Tank or Crawford
Over the past few weeks, WBO junior welterweight champion Teofimo “The Takeover” Lopez (21-1, 13 KO’s) has repeatedly uttered many racially offensive statements. Key targets for Lopez’s rhetoric have been WBA lightweight champion Gervonta “Tank” Davis and 154-pound champion Terence Crawford. At this point though, one starts to wonder if there is a greater calamity in play here. Is Lopez purposely trying to get himself blacklisted or is he simply this inept at pursuing the bouts that he truly wants?
In some of his more notorious recent episodes, Lopez called “Tank” and Crawford “monkeys” and claimed he needs “an elite black boy” to beat. Despite the racial tactics, The Takeover does not seem to be even a fluttering blip on Crawford’s or Davis’s radar.
A COWARDLY LION?
In terms of Crawford, he was so peeved with Lopez that he is only offering to beat him up and break his neck in a backalley street fight. For his part, Tank Davis has just about completely ignored him altogether. So the question begs to be asked: if his racial tirades have only gotten bad press and zero fight offers, why keep doing it? Is he that tone deaf? Is he legitimately racist?
Why doesn’t The Takeover focus on anyone outside of the two people only supplying ferociously cold-shoulders? In the past, Teofimo Lopez took on and beat the decorated Vasily Lomachenko and Josh Taylor. Said to say, Lopez has shown heart and great in-ring ability. This is why the evasive games that he’s played with #1 (WBO) ranked Arnold Barboza Jr., who has certainly called him out, are all the more puzzling.
Likewise, in the lightweight division, just below him, Lopez has all but slipped on his track shoes and sprinted away from matches with Keyshawn Davis and two-division champion Shakur Stevenson. Each of them represent major fights and both have called him out at length. Even worse, Davis versus Lopez is an in-house fight and should be easy to make. In terms of Stevenson, Lopez literally vowed never to fight him due to some convoluted explanation about having too much respect for Stevenson’s manager, J. Prince.
MAKE IT MAKE SENSE!!
Since losing to George Kambosos, Lopez has turned in a couple good showings but has looked subpar in most. Truthfully, most observers feel he struggled mightily with the unknown Steven Claggett and got gift decisions against Sandor Martin and Jamaine Ortiz. In fact, following the Martin fight, he was caught on tape famously questioning himself. Adding in the public self-doubt, running from viable fights to chase unrealistic duels with blatant racism has Lopez looking all out of sorts. So, is this some plan that only he understands or is Teofimo Lopez really falling apart in real-time?
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