Teofimo Lopez has made the headlines for all the wrong reasons after he went on a controversial, worrying and in parts disgraceful rant on a podcast.
Lopez was one of the brightest stars in world boxing following an upset victory over Vasiliy Lomachenko to win the unified lightweight titles back in 2020.
His first defence against George Kambosos Jr was prolonged after a purse bid by promotional upstart, Triller, fell through. It eventually landed with Matchroom and DAZN, and Lopez lost over the distance after being knocked down in the first.
He later claimed the promotion was against him, and did not take the defeat well.
Since then, Lopez has moved up to the 140lb ranks and won twice, first against Pedro Campa via TKO and then a decision victory over Sandor Martin in December. He has signed to face former undisputed champion, Josh Taylor, on June 10 of this year.
In a bid to sell the fight, Lopez was a guest on the Punsh Drunk Boxing podcast. He expressed bitterness towards his promotional company, Top Rank, and its broadcaster, ESPN.
“Commentators are the ones that convince everybody if someone else is winning.
Watch the George Kambosos Jr fight without the commentators, watch my last fight [vs Sandor Martin] without the commentators and you will see the results.
“At the fighter meeting [that takes place before a fight] I dissed [ESPN analysts] Andre Ward and Timothy Bradley in front of ESPN’s production and all of them, for all their affiliation and corruption that they do.
“And what happened? I put more weight on my back. When I slipped with the first knockdown they called, what did Bradley say right away? ‘He’s hurt, he’s hurt.’”
Lopez went on to mention ‘black fighters’ without specifics in a comment that has caused uproar online.
“So I don’t sugarcoat s***. All these motherf***ers d***ride and suck d***, sorry for my language but that is the problem, I don’t ride off that.
“And just to put it more on this fight, this is my last fight on ESPN. This is why this fight means everything. If they want the black fighters, they can keep them.”
He wasn’t pushed on what he meant by this. This segment has since been removed from the podcast, but was captured and posted online beforehand.
Lopez also said that the very real threat of death in the ring was ‘cool.’
“One thing I love about my sport, I can kill a guy and get away with it, so it’s cool.”
The backlash online was immediate, with fans branding the fighter racist and in need of help, and saying his comments were a disgrace. Andre Ward responded to the interview by saying that Lopez ‘needs prayer.’
Fans have been concerned for the Brooklyn native’s mental state since he was filmed after the Martin fight questioning whether of not he ‘still had it.’ This latest development will take those worries to a new level.