WBO President Francisco Valcarcel Says Teofimo Lopez Has Vacated the Title
It seems that two-divisional champion Teofimo “The Takeover” Lopez (19-1, 13KO) is not joking about retiring from the sport of boxing. WBO President Francisco “Paco” Valcarcel took to social media to inform the fans that Lopez sent him a text message claiming to have relinquished the junior welterweight title.
On June 10, The Takeover defeated WBO champion Josh Taylor in impressive fashion. Yet, before fans could start sizing up his future, Lopez claimed that retirement was likely his next move.
The main issue the Brooklyn native is bent out of shape over is his belief that he’s heavily underpaid. Many believe he is using this as a negotiation tactic, hoping Top Rank caves in to his demands. The boxing world saw this movie before with WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury. Fury claimed to be retired but never returned the belt to the WBC. In the end, he continued to fight and is awaiting to fight for undisputed against unified champion Oleksandr Usyk
As of the writing of this article, it has not been reported that Lopez has returned the title. So, there is time for Lopez and Top Rank to work something out before the WBO issues a deadline for him to give back the title.
3Kings Boxing will continue to follow this story and provide any further updates.
