Teofimo Lopez says the reason he doesn’t want to fight lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson is because he saw how he committed suicide after a loss in 2015 at the National Golden Gloves in Las Vegas.
Lopez says Shakur wanted to go to the top of the hotel and “jump.” Teofimo adds that he doesn’t want to have “blood” on his hands if Shakur breaks down after losing to him and takes his own life.
Fans saw Shakur cry after his defeat in the 2016 Olympic final against Cuba Robey Ramirez. Everything was destroyed after that defeat. The judges did not give Shakur a victory after he was outworked by a young Robeisy, who was on the attack the whole fight, slugging.
This fight showed the plan to defeat Shakur: attack him relentlessly, chasing him, and not letting him win rounds with his low output.
“I’m not trying to give that man his first loss. I’ll let someone else take this,” Teofimo Lopez told Come and Talk channel about why he is not interested in fighting Shakur Stevenson.
“I saw Shakur lose in the amateurs. This time in Vegas, National Golden Gloves 2015, Shakur lost to Ruben Villa, and then he wanted to go to the roof of the hotel and jump. I did not try to have real blood in the my hands.”
Teofimo beats at 140 now, and he’s big for that weight class. At weight for Teofimo’s last fight against Steve Claggett on June 29, he looked drained and performed poorly, struggling to beat the fringe contender by a 12-round unanimous decision in a fight closer to the scores of the judges
Shakur looks big for the 135lb division, but his lack of power makes it nearly impossible for him to move up to 140 to fight stronger punchers like Teofimo, Alberto Puello, Jose ‘Rayo’ Valenzuela and Liam Paro. Those guys hit too hard and it would be hard for Shakur to handle.
Stevenson underwent recent hand surgery but is scheduled to defend his WBC lightweight title against William Zepeda in February. It will be a very difficult fight for Shakur because Zepeda is a pressure fighter who can punch and has a high output. Also, Zepeda cuts the ring well and walks through the punches to land his powerful body shots. It’s kryptonite for runners.
