Teofimo Lopez Jr. appears to be zeroing in on a potential clash against Terence Crawford with each passing day.
With “Bud” on a break and a rematch against Errol Spence Jr. nowhere in sight, the 140-pound WBO champion Lopez could leverage his “super champion” status to force the issue against the undisputed welterweight king.
The WBO’s rules indicate that a super champion can be installed as a mandatory challenger against a champion in the division above.
Lopez (20-1, 13 KOs) and Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) have been exchanging unpleasantries in recent days following Lopez’s lackluster win against Jamaine Ortiz earlier this month. After the fight, Crawford, who was in attendance supporting Keyshawn Davis during his stoppage win against Jose Pedraza, told Lopez to “go back to the drawing board, chump.”
The 26-year-old Lopez invited Crawford, 37, for a clash anywhere between 147 and 154 pounds and warned that the Nebraska native “don’t want no part of me, man.”
Lopez’s father and trainer Teofimo Sr. is now adding further fuel to the fire.
“I don’t think Crawford wants anything to do with my son. His career is going to be over. That’s how he feels,” Lopez Sr. told Punsh Drunk Boxing. “My son destroying him. [Crawford] thinks he’s King Kong. Him losing to my son would be a disgrace. He wouldn’t be able to sleep at night. It would be a nightmare. it would be like him coming back from Vietnam, seeing all that sh!t that you see in those wars.
“He’ll be waking up in the middle of the night, ‘Teo, where are you, Teo?’ To me, Crawford is a guy like Mike Tyson. Remember when he used to say he was scared, an old lion, walking into the ring. Crawford is scared to death. You know why he’s scared to death? He doesn’t want to have that [loss]. He knows my son has got a good chance to give him that [loss] … They don’t want to lose. My son always goes for the top dog. He’s in the game to fight the top dog. Terence wants to go three weight divisions to fight Canelo. My son just wants to go up one weight division.”
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer, and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, through email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com, or via www.ManoukAkopyan.com.
