Teofimo Lopez Sr Regrets Leaving Top Rank
There is an old proverb that states, ‘when you abandon old friends for new friends, you end up with no friends.’ This is certainly a piece of advice that former unified lightweight champion Teofimo “Take Over” Lopez (16-1, 12 KO’s) could have utilized. In his last bout, Lopez suffered one of the biggest upset losses of the year to “Ferocious” George Kambosos Jr. With the split decision loss, Lopez was denuded of his trio of belts and plummeted from his lofty position in the division. Yet, as costly as the belts were, the Take Over might not be done taking L’s.
One of the more prevalent story lines underlining the Lopez versus Ferocious battle was the promotional aspect. Initially the Lopez v Kambosos bout was meant to be promoted by Top Rank. Despite being well guided by Top Rank, Lopez was openly displeased with the money he was being paid. This discontentment led the Take Over to conspire with Team Kambosos to push the fight to a purse bid. Ultimately, the bout was picked up by Triller via purse bid for a whopping six million dollars.
Initially it appeared that Lopez had hit the jackpot. Unfortunately for him, the situation quickly flipped faster than a gymnast high on speed!For a number of reasons, the bout was pushed back and back and back again. In fact, the bout was postponed so many times that Triller abandoned the dustup at which point DAZN secured the promotional rights. When the two finally did collide in the ring, as history has recorded, the Take Over suffered the detrimental defeat.
MORNING AFTER BLUES
When Lopez and company initially worked in the dark to maneuver around his promoter, Top Rank head honcho Bob Arum was obviously displeased. Going a step further, the long-time promoter all but promised retribution for the disloyal tactic. At the time, Jose Carlos Ramirez and Josh Taylor were scheduled to face one another to crown the undisputed super lightweight champion. Lopez had been rather vocal about wanting the winner. In the end, Josh Taylor went on to topple Ramirez and earn the undisputed distinction. Yet, when the Take Over threw Top Rank under the bus, Arum vowed that ‘chickens would come to roost.’
For months now, Team Lopez has all but guaranteed that they would be able to secure the Taylor bout. This is extremely odd. Its odd because the Arum’s threat has never been retracted and, more glaringly, Josh Taylor has only crapped all over any notion of facing Teofimo Lopez. Now that the Take Over has made himself something of an industry joke, lost his titles and alienated his promoter, Team Lopez is singing some remorseful blues.
In a recent interview with SecondsOut, Teofimo Lopez Sr, the father and chief second to the Take Over, spoke about their remorse for two-timing Top Rank.
“I don’t blame myself for nothing. We’ve been at this weight for eight years at 135 and it’s time to move up. It’s time to go up to 140 and this bullshit loss, because it was a bullshit loss.
“I should have never fought with DAZN. I should have stood with Top Rank because those are the people that really love us. And I learned, you learn from your mistakes! We’ll go back with Top Rank, two paper view fights next year and then an ESPN fight.
“We going to go up to 140 get a fight in February and then fight Josh Taylor in the spring time. We’re still going to do what we said we were going to do, this doesn’t change anything!”
YOU CAN’T BE SERIOUS!
While optimism is a great thing to have, it’s not of much use if it is completely devoid of reality. At this point, Lopez Sr sounds like his brain is being deprived of oxygen! Taking that severe loss, embarrassing himself in the post-fight interview and losing all his titles changes everything! On top of this, both Arum and Josh Taylor have emphatically stated their complete unwillingness to make a Taylor versus Lopez dustup.
So, it really is anyone’s guess why Lopez Sr is coming off like it’s a done deal. Stranger things have happened, but it’s all but guaranteed that the Take Over will not be facing Josh Taylor anytime soon, if ever at all. Yet, lets see is Team Lopez can unearth a miracle Hail Mary play.
Reading Time: 4 minutes
By: Bakari Simpson
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