As Teofimo Lopez prepares for his next upcoming fight against Jamaine Ortiz, Lopez talks to media members about a number of topics including that fight, Ryan Garcia, and him evolving as a person. Check out some quick excerpts of what he had to say below.
Teofimo Lopez on Ryan Garcia now targeting a fight with Rolando Romero instead of Devin Haney
“That’s the Mayweather effect. You got to think about it as a business point. If he gets the world title then he gets to balance the WBC with the WBA. But if you ain’t got no belt, the Haneys are going to say the need more because they got the money belt.”
On his own interest in fight Garcia
“To be honest, I’m on a different route. I got my Takeover promotions in effect now with Top Rank and ESPN and I got a fighter on there, ‘Lonnie B’ Thompson, so he was under Mayweather at one point, we’re going to try him out and see how we do with that and I really want to turn this into a Golden Boy franchise.”
On facing Jamaine Ortiz next
“Great fighter. Me and him faced each other back in the National Golden Gloves in 2015, the finals. So I know I got a tough fight ahead of me. It’s not a walkover, this guy is very elusive, he’s a technician like they say. So he gave Loma a run for his money so I got to stay on my toes.”
On what’s changed about him as of late
“My mentality. I took six months out of the boxing world to spend time with my son and I really got grounded by that. So me coming back, it’s not me missing boxing, I think boxing misses Teo and I’m here to do that favor.”