The fight between Teofimo Lopez and Shakur Stevenson was
announced Monday, and “The Ring 6” main event is set to take place January 31 in New York.
Oddsmakers took notice of the mouthwatering matchup and immediately installed
Stevenson as a near -350 betting favorite, and
Lopez as a +250 underdog.
Most boxing experts believe the betting line is too much in favor of Stevenson (24-0, 11 KOs), the WBC lightweight champion and
The Ring’s No. 1 contender at 135 pounds, who is moving up to 140 to challenge Lopez (22-1, 13 KOs), The Ring and WBO junior welterweight champion.
But Lopez loves being picked to lose, just like he was before scoring career-best wins against Vasiliy Lomachenko in 2020 and Josh Taylor in 2023.
“A lot of the odds were always against me, and I think that's when I perform my best,” Lopez said on “Inside The Ring.”
“I look forward to doing that again. I can't wait to execute. Let the odds go even higher. I want to break the bank.”
Lopez said he expects to stop the smaller Stevenson, who is looking to win a title in a fourth weight class in his division debut.
Although Lopez has stacked a series of respectable wins as a junior welterweight since fighting in the division beginning in August 2022, stoppage wins have escaped him.
Lopez stopped Pedro Campa in his division debut, and he has notched five consecutive decision wins ever since against Sandor Martin, Josh Taylor, Jamaine Ortiz, Steve Claggett and Barboza.
Stevenson, a slick southpaw,
has wins against William Zepeda, Josh Padley, Robson Conceicao, Oscar Valdez and Jamel Herring, but carries a considerably lower knockout percentage (45%) compared with Lopez (59%).
“[The resumes] don't matter until we hang up the gloves,” said Lopez. “We have such a long career ahead of us, depending on how we do with our health. We're starting 2026 off with a bang … We wanted this fight badly. He's coming for my crown, and we both want to be No. 1.”
Manouk Akopyan is The Ring’s lead writer. Follow him on X and Instagram: @ManoukAkopyan