Playing a dark and scary vampire watching the Ring awards on Saturday, Teofimo Lopez says he chose not to fight Subriel Matias because he didn’t want to be a player. “ladder” to help the newly crowned IBF light welterweight champion.
He says Matias was not going to win this fight, and he didn’t know there was anything to gain by helping the former champion rebuild. Although Teo was not helped to rebuild after his loss, he saw no reason to help someone else in the position he was in in 2021.
In addition, Lopez (21-1, 13 KOs) says he wanted “great guarantee” after Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said the fight wasn’t worth the PPV. It is not clear what kind of money Teofimo, 27, wanted to receive from Top Rank as his “insurance”, but there was no agreement.
Teofimo is now sitting on the shelf not fighting, and has already been out of the ring for seven months since his tough-than-expected victory over fighter Steve Claggett on June 29 last year.
Lopez says Matias is the only way he was given Top Rank. It wasn’t “a lot of options,” and he says he “put his foot down” because he was tired of the “take it or leave it” battles he kept fighting.
“I feel like it’s time for me to get bigger and better fights. Matias is trying to bounce back from Liam Paro’s defeat in his home country,” said Teofimo Lopez on Fight Hub TV about why he refused to fight Subriel Matias. “I think that by doing that, why would I be that boy’s step?
“He will not win. Of course not. Bob Arum, CEO of Top Rank, said the fight is not worth the pay-per-view. I agree. Bob Arum, the chairman, said that. Whoever else was involved in the situation, they really wanted to push the PPV.
“I said if that’s the case I need insurance. ‘Give me a big guarantee, and we’ll start talking about fighting. I’m ready to fight now.’ Things did not go according to terms. They dropped it on the ground. They said I did wrong with the war, but they actually gave us one thing,” said Lopez.
Looking back, Teofimo made the right decision not to fight Matias (21-2, 21 KO) because there was a good chance he would have lost to him. Matias will thrive against Lopez’s fighting style, and he’s on another level from George Kambosos Jr, who proved to be Teo’s kryptonite.
New Yorker Lopez can’t handle pressure fighters. We saw that against Kambosos, Jamaine Ortiz, and in the later rounds of his 2020 upset win over Vasily Lomachenko in 2020.
“There weren’t many ways to fight, and they didn’t want to make an alliance,” said Teofimo about Top Rank. “They didn’t want to pay certain fighters x dollar amount. I just don’t understand. Sounds like a gun to me. I will take it that way as my vision as my market.”
It’s understandable why Top Rank didn’t pay an arm and a leg to set up a match to pit Teofimo against one of the champions because it wouldn’t be a PPV. He’s not famous enough, and the other champions at 140 aren’t big names.
Light welterweight champions
– Jose ‘Rayo’ Valenzuela
– Richardson Hitchins
– Alberto Puello
“You have to think of it as a business idea, and I will enter this year,” said Teofimo. Couldn’t you see it on lineal TV open to the public rather than the first year I come back in 2025, doing a PPV? What am I going to charge you guys? You are there to watch us. It should be free. ESPN and the network, they’re still getting cut, and we’re getting it too. Let’s leave it open to everyone.
“I just put my foot down. I’ve been doing ‘take it or leave it’ fighting for you guys [Top Rank]and I can’t do that anymore,” said Lopez.
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