Ring Magazine and WBO junior welterweight champion Teofimo ‘The Takeover’ Lopez 19-1 (13) says he would welcome the opportunity to jump up another weight class to challenge Ring Magazine and undisputed welterweight champion Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford 40-0 (31).
Crawford has dismissed his calls for fight, telling the 26-year-old Bronx native to focus on his own weight class. This is despite the 36-year-old switch-hitter from Omaha, Nebraska opening considering a move up three weight classes to challenge Ring Magazine and undisputed 168-pound king Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez 60-2-2 (39).
“To be honest, it’s up to his team,” Lopez said to Mail Sport. “He has a contract with Errol Spence Jr, they’re going to have to do another fight. When he’s finished with that, we can cement me and him facing each other.
“I’ll let Crawford get his five minutes of fame. I’ll say it like this. Don’t tell me I have to worry about anything when I’m the king and I defeated the undisputed champion Josh Taylor at 140. All I’m saying is, I’m just following you bro. Don’t tell me I have to follow other guys.
“I know the skills I have. [Crawford] is almost at the end of his prime and I’m not even in my prime. This is a great time for this fight to happen and I leave it to the higher divine.”
Crawford won his first world title at lightweight when he lifted the WBO strap from Ricky Burns in Glasgow, Scotland a decade ago before moving up to junior welterweight where he unified all four major sanctioning body belts and was also crowned the Ring Magazine champion.
But it took until his ninth-round knockout victory in his four-belt unification bout against Errol ‘The Truth’ Spence Jr 28-1 (22) in Las Vegas, Nevada in July last year for him to gain the recognition he so richly deserved.
Despite the one-sided nature of this victory, Lopez said he had a wounded fighter in front of him. Spence Jr had cataract surgery in the months following the bout.
“Crawford is a hell of a fighter, I won’t take that away from him. He can say he’s a two-time [undisputed] champion,” Lopez said. “However, I am not going to allow the illusion of – you fought every fighter who was injured. When you know you’re fighting an injured fighter, your confidence levels go up. Is it confidence or is it cockiness?
“If you’re saying you’re the best – and I know I’m the best – let’s make the fight happen. I don’t understand what the commotion is all about. Boxing fans should be excited. I know one day we’ll face each other.”
Before that can happen, Lopez must first get past the tough challenge of Jamaine ‘The Technician’ Ortiz 17-1-1 (8) at the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada tomorrow night.
“I’m feeling great, I understand the magnitude of it all,” Lopez said. “This is much more difficult than any other fight I’ve had. It’s not discrediting [Josh] Taylor or [Vasiliy] Lomachenko, it’s just that this fight means more than all those because this defines where I’m at now.
“I’ve been studying Jamaine Ortiz. The situation with Crawford has not unfocused me whatsoever, I’m just a fighter who likes to fight the best and look forward to a phenomenal stampede career at the end of my life.
“I want to take the next chapter of my life to greater heights. My goal is to become 2024 fighter of the year. Once you beat the king, you are the king. Everybody else wants the crown.”