Teofimo Lopez has reportedly rejected the latest offer from his promoters at Top Rank to defend his title against Subriel Matias on March 15 on ESPN PPV in Las Vegas.
According to Keith Idec, Top Rank's offer for WBO light welterweight champion Teofimo (21-1, 13 KOs) for a bout against former IBF 140-pound beltholder Matthias (21-2, 21 KOs), was higher than the “minimum To hold it.” “Teo remains intractable, his own worst enemy, while his career sinks to the bottom.
It's unclear what kind of money Lopez, 27, expected for the Matias fight, but whatever the amount is, Top Rank has not offered. That would have been risky for Teo as he has not performed well in the last four years. Teo has looked like a complete basket case since 2021.
Lopez, a native of Brooklyn, New York, has always struggled against pressure fighters throughout his nine-year pro career, and may have collapsed against the heavyweight Mattias.
Subriel's power was 100% hell for Teofimo, and he probably was I collapsed mentally As he did in his 12-round split decision loss to George Kambosos Jr. in 2021.
Lopez's demands too high?
“Teofimo Lopez turned down the latest offer from Top Rank, 'at a rate well above his contract minimum,' I'm told, before a deadline late last night for a WBO 140-pound title fight against Subriel Matias. “It was It is possible that Lopez and Matias will fight in the main event of the ESPN PPV on March 15 in Las Vegas,” Keith Edick said on X.
The top rank must have been upset by Lopez's last fight against slugger Steve Claggett (39-8-2, 22 KOs) last year on June 29. Teofimo absorbed a lot of punishment from Claggett, ending up with a badly swollen face in the process of winning a tougher-than-expected 12-round unanimous decision.
Top Rank is believed to have fueled opponent Teo the Claggett as a confidence booster following his controversial win over Jamaine Ortiz in their previous fight on February 8 last year.
Many boxing fans believed that the judges gave Teofimo a gift decision in that fight, and felt that Gamaine was robbed. I watched the fight and had Ortiz win 9-3, and the score wasn't even remotely close. He controlled Lopez more than Kambosos.
Some believe the pinnacle of Teofimo's career, a narrow 12-round majority decision over Vasiliy Lomachenko in November 2020, destroyed him as a fighter, leaving him a struggling fighter, unable to fight at the levels he had previously shown. Lomachenko did something with Teo, and his performance has been mediocre since then. What did Luma do to him in that battle to turn him into what he became?
