During this chat with Marcos Villegas of Fight Hub TV, lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez answers questions about his status in the division and what he makes of all the fallout after he beat Vasiliy Lomachenko. Check out some excerpts below…
Lopez on those who don’t believe him to be really undisputed champion until he fights Devin Haney:
“The only confusing is to those who are hating and those who are not wanting to take it in, that it is true, I am undisputed. So, for those that don’t want to take it in, the ones that are saying they’re confused about it — no, you’re not confused, you just don’t want to understand that it happened (laughs).”
On Lomachenko making excuses for his loss, alleging bias played a role in him not winning on the cards:
“Lomachenko, he’s a tremendous fighter overall, however you’re not acting like a true champion doing those things and saying such things. Move on, and that’s all I can say, man. Sometimes I might be too tough on these guys, so I’m too rough on them…but I gotta keep it real.
“I want best for everyone, so I think that for Lomachenko, get back on your toes and either go back to ‘30 like I said — I told you I was gonna bring you back down to 130 — and I think that’ll be the best suit for him. I wish him nothing but a great career ahead of him, he still got some time in him to make something.
“I could bash the man, but I already bashed him enough by beating him. So now it’s all about killing everyone with success and killing everyone with time.”
On Lomachenko’s team saying he doesn’t want a rematch because he’s worried he might lose:
“(Chuckles).”
On why he’s not looking at an immediate rematch with Lomachenko:
“Because I’ma be a dick. Because everyone was being a dick to me and my father…you didn’t want to put a rematch clause in our contract. There’s a lot of things, I can get real dirty into this, but I’m not. I’m gonna look the other way, and I’m looking for bigger and better things. This is now where I determine my future and what it’s gonna look like and how I determine it. It’s not gonna look like a cherry picker, never that.
“I’ma go out there, I’ma be a fan to the fans. And I’ma go out there and take on anyone and everyone for them. Because that’s what really matters, is the people.”
On if he thinks there’s a lot of cherry pickers in boxing:
“I think it’s a toss-up. Some fighters do cherry pick, we can’t lie about that. We’ve seen it. But then there is some that are fighting some tough guys, they just don’t have the credit as much as the other guy. Look at Callum Smith, he was an actual good fighter. I thought that he was gonna give Canelo problems…they guy was rated #1, RING magazine and everything.
“Cherry picking, for me, I know I ain’t one. That’s all I can say.”
On who he thinks is a cherry picker in his division:
“Not Teofimo (laughs).”