Bob Arum says his fighter, WBO welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez, is “acting like he has a screw loose” with him believing his contract with Top Rank is invalid. Promoter Arum says two-division world champion Teofimo (21-1, 13 KOs) has signed an extension for his fight against Sandor Martin in 2022.
In an interview with Dan Rafael on XArum said that Teofimo is still under contract with Top Rank and is “here in black and white.”
Teofimo talks eagerly about wanting to fight Terence Crawford, who has shown no interest in fighting him. If Teo gets his release from Top Rank, some believe he will sign with Matchroom and fight on DAZN. T
The way that Teofimo recently saw, is in decline in his eight-year career and is still winning only, thanks to the careful matchmaking done on his behalf by Top Rank. Brooklyn, New York native Teofimo hasn’t looked like the same fighter he once was since his breakout fight against Vasily Lomachenko on October 17, 2020.
Although Teofimo won that fight by a narrow majority of 12 rounds, he took a lot of heavy shots from Lomachenko and hasn’t been the same since. In addition, Teofimo’s behavior outside the ring has been erratic, with him saying strange things to the media that make some of them question if he is still all there mentally.
Teofimo has hit three times since, beating Josh Taylor, Jamaine Ortiz and Steve Claggett. He hasn’t been impressive in his last two fights, and he was very poor against Martin. A lot of boxing fans felt that Teofimo was given controversial decisions in his fights against Martin and Ortiz. They were very questionable decisions that went to Teofimo.
He looked like a classic example of a fighter in his last fight, working to a 12-round unanimous decision over 35-year-old veteran Steve Claggett on June 29. This was supposed to be a showcase fight for Teofimo to look like gold, but he was horrible throughout, working himself against the ropes in several rounds. At the end of the fight, Teofimo’s face was scarred and very swollen over both eyes. Physically, Teofimo looked like the loser.
“Teofimo sometimes acts like he has a screw loose. I love the kid, but I can’t understand him, and it doesn’t make logical sense,” Arum told Dan Rafael. “He signed an extension with us first with the Jose Pedraza fight that didn’t happen, and then when we did another fight with Sandor Martin, he signed the same extension. So there it is in black and white. I think it showed to the lawyer the first contract and not the second. Dealing with Teofimo is like dealing with Alice in Wonderland.
Fans believe Arum wants to keep Teofimo and set him up with a cash-out deal, pairing him against Ryan Garcia or Devin Haney to bring in some revenue before the end of his contract. It is not known if any of these battles will happen. Another of Arum’s fighters, Keyshawn Davis, has been pushed for a fight against Teofimo, but Teo has shown no interest. He wants a fight that generates revenue. That would be Ryan or Haney.
Gervonta Davis has not shown the desire to move up to 140 to fight Teofimo, and it is physically impossible for Teo to go back to 135. He has been putting his body through the wringer to make it lighter during the last year that he fought . that weight class in 2021, and he can’t go back to that division now.
In Teofimo’s final fight at lightweight, he lost to George Kambosos Jr. for a 12-round split decision. That fight proved that Teofimo had been at 135 too long. However, that defeat may have been a product of the punishment Teo took in the Lomachenko fight, as he took a lot of shots from the former three-division world champion.
