Josh Taylor flew from Europe to Newark, New Jersey to announce his June 10th, WBO junior welterweight world title fight against former undisputed lightweight world champion Teofimo Lopez.
When Taylor arrived to the Prudential Center, he was shocked - as his opponent, Teofimo Lopez, who lives in New York City, New York, was nowhere to be found. Taylor had a long travel day to get to the United States, and didn’t take kindly to the lack of chivalry from Lopez.
“They told me once I arrived that [Teofimo Lopez is] not here, he's down in Miami he's there to watch a [expletive] UFC show or something like that,” said Josh Taylor to iD Boxing displaying obvious displeasure. “It was a little bit [of] disrespectful, [I] flew over there to go and announce the fight and make a thing of the of the fight and he never even bothered [to show up].”
Making matters worse, Taylor’s flight was booked late due to working through a visa issue allowing him to enter the United States, because of this he was unable to get a direct flight - due to the fight occurring on a holiday weekend. So Taylor was forced to transfer planes, to make his way to the United States.
All of this discontent though seems to fuel Taylor. Taylor seems very poised at the mission at hand, as he is very confident when speaking with iD Boxing, that he will beat Teofimo Lopez, as he believes Lopez will not be able to take the pressure he brings. Add to it, Taylor feels that he has a higher boxing IQ which he broke down to the media platform.
“Put [Teofimo Lopez] under pressure and make him fold,” said Taylor. “I’ve watched him a lot…So I know what I can do and I know I can stop him you know I'm not putting pressure on myself saying I am going to stop him but I definitely think I can and I'm not going to be looking for it either because you may go looking for it, and it never comes. I know I can [I can hurt Lopez with] good shots and I know he leaves himself open, and exposes himself quite a lot.”
