Bob Arum says his fighter, WBO mild welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez, “acts like he’s obtained a screw free” with him believing that his contract with Prime Rank is invalid. Promoter Arum states that the two-division world champion Teofimo (21-1, 13 KOs) signed an extension for his struggle in opposition to Sandor Martin in 2022.
In an interview with Dan Rafael on X, Arum stated Teofimo remains to be below contract with Prime Rank and is “there in Black and white.”
Teofimo talks eagerly about eager to struggle Terence Crawford, who has proven little interest in preventing him. If Teo does get his launch from Prime Rank, some consider that he’ll signal with Matchroom and struggle on DAZN. T
The way in which that Teofimo has appeared lately, he’s on the decline in his eight-year profession and is simply nonetheless successful, due to the cautious matchmaking being finished on his behalf by Prime Rank. The Brooklyn, New York native Teofimo hasn’t appeared like the identical fighter he as soon as was since his grueling struggle in opposition to Vasily Lomachenko on October 17, 2020.
Though Teofimo received that struggle by a slender 12-round majority draw, he took many heavy pictures from Lomachenko and hasn’t been the identical since. Furthermore, Teofimo’s habits exterior of the ring has been erratic, with him saying weird issues to the media that make a few of them query whether or not he’s nonetheless all there mentally.
Teofimo has fought 3 times since, beating Josh Taylor, Jamaine Ortiz, and Steve Claggett. He’s not been spectacular in his final two fights, and he was very poor in opposition to Martin. A whole lot of boxing followers felt that Teofimo was given controversial choices in his fights in opposition to Martin and Ortiz. These have been very questionable choices that went to Teofimo.
He appeared like a traditional instance of a shot fighter in his final struggle, laboring to a 12-round unanimous resolution over the 35-year-old veteran Steve Claggett on June twenty ninth. This was presupposed to be a showcase struggle for Teofimo to seem like gold, however he was horrible all through, getting labored over in opposition to the ropes in most of the rounds. On the finish of the struggle, Teofimo’s face was marked up and badly swollen over each eyes. Bodily, Teofimo appeared just like the loser.
“Teofimo typically acts like he has a screw free. I like the child, however I can’t determine him out, and he makes no logical sense,” stated Arum to Dan Rafael. “He signed an extension with us first with the Jose Pedraza struggle that didn’t occur, after which after we did one other struggle with Sandor Martin, he signed the identical extension. So it’s there in black and white. I assume he confirmed the lawyer the primary contract and never the second. Coping with Teofimo is like coping with Alice in Wonderland.”
Followers consider that Arum needs to maintain Teofimo and set him up with a cash-out deal, matching him in opposition to Ryan Garcia or Devin Haney to herald some income earlier than his contract ends. Whether or not both of these fights will occur is unknown. One other certainly one of Arum’s fighters, Keyshawn Davis, has been pushing for a struggle in opposition to Teofimo, however Teo has proven no curiosity. He needs a revenue-generating struggle. That may be Ryan or Haney.
Gervonta Davis hasn’t proven any need to maneuver as much as 140 to struggle Teofimo, and it’s bodily unattainable for Teo to soften again right down to 135. He was placing his physique by the wringer to make light-weight over the past yr that he was preventing in that weight class in 2021, and he can’t return to that division now.
In Teofimo’s remaining struggle at light-weight, he misplaced to George Kambosos Jr. by a 12-round break up resolution. That struggle confirmed that Teofimo had stayed at 135 too lengthy. Nevertheless, that defeat could have been a product of the punishment that Teo took within the Lomachenko struggle, as a result of he took many pictures from the previous three-division world champion.
