Teofimo Lopez Jr. is currently navigating a tumultuous time with promoter Top Rank, but that’s not stopping him from trying to build up super fights that can be made for the future, specifically with Gervonta Davis.
“He just needs to let go of his pride and ego,” Lopez told a group of reporters in regard to a potential tilt with Tank. “Just play business, bro. You really want to fight us, that’s how we can make it happen. We all want to fight each other.”
The WBA lightweight belt holder and The Ring’s No. 1 ranked 135-pounder Davis (30-0, 28 KOs) is set to face Lamont Roach on March 1 and has proclaimed that he will retire at the end of the year.
Meanwhile, The Ring and WBO junior welterweight champion Lopez (21-1, 13 KOs) is certainly in all-business mode in recent weeks after
declining a $2.8 million deal for a title defense against Subriel Matias, all while publicly feuding with career-long promoter Top Rank. Lopez has also added coach Eddy Reynoso to his team, signed a
managerial deal with Keith Connolly and Mike Borao, and is one of the sport’s many stars
in advanced talks with Turki Alalshikh, owner of The Ring and head of Riyadh Season.
Lopez said he would take one more fight at 140 pounds before moving on to 147 pounds, teasing a tilt with new managerial stablemate, fellow Brooklyn, New York native, and IBF champion Richardson Hitchins.
The 27-year-old Lopez added that he’s not fighting until “summertime.”
With a win, Lopez said he’s anticipating a fight against Jaron Ennis if Boots gets past Eimantas Stanionis during their planned welterweight title unification fight on April 12 in Atlantic City. From there, Lopez said the winner would face the victor of a planned October fight between Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney.
That’s certainly a lot of moving pieces to the big picture but Lopez is hopeful it could happen.
“That's what it's looking like,” he said. “It's all about the best fighting the best … I want to play business this year.”
Manouk Akopyan is a lead writer for Ring Magazine. Follow him @ManoukAkopyan on X and Instagram.