Few boxing fans felt Teofimo Lopez was being fully genuine when he announced his retirement from boxing in the aftermath of his impressive WBO world title win against Josh Taylor last month.
Despite question marks over his mental health amidst a host of issues in his personal life, Lopez produced a first class performance to outpoint Taylor at the Madison Square Garden Theatre – only to announce he was hanging up the gloves almost immediately after.
A recent interview with Bob Arum, however, appears to have proved the sceptics right.
The Top Rank boss sold SNAC that he recently had a meeting with ‘The Takeover,’ and that plans were afoot for a “really big fight” in the not too distant future.
“He was at my house a couple of days ago. We had a lovely lunch and spent some time. I think his head’s back on.”
“We’re looking to make him a really big fight, either later this year, or maybe in conjunction with the Super Bowl, next year.”
Lopez informed the WBO earlier this month that he would not be vacating his recently acquired world title, thus keeping the door open to a host of mouthwatering unifications and mega fights.
One of those could come in the shape of Devin Haney, who is expected to leave his undisputed lightweight crown and move up to 140lbs for his next bout.
With the likes of Regis Prograis already at the weight, Ryan Garcia also making the move back up and Shakur Stevenson potentially not too far behind him, more big nights seem like an inevitability for the mercurial Lopez.