Teofimo Lopez confirmed that he’s negotiating a unification combat in opposition to IBF gentle welterweight champion Richardson Hitchins for early 2025.
Two-Belt Unification at 140
WBO 140-lb champion Lopez (21-1, 13 KOs) says he’ll combat Hitchins (19-0, 7 KOs) in a two-belt unification, then transfer as much as 147 to problem Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis for his IBF welterweight title in October in Riyadh. Ennis-Teofimo might be on the Ryan Garcia vs. Devin Haney 2 card.
Boots Ennis additionally has a preliminary combat he’ll be taking earlier than assembly Lopez in October. Ennis might be combating a unification subsequent in opposition to WBA 147-lb champion Eimantas Stanionis. Given how dangerous Jaron appeared in his final combat in opposition to Karen Chukhadzhian of their rematch on November ninth, you’ll be able to’t rule out a win for Stanionis if that match occurs.
Ennis appeared one thing terrible in a number of of his fights in recent times, struggling in his first match in opposition to Chukhadzhian and taking boatloads of punishment in opposition to Roiman Villa and David Avanesyan.
“At 140 after which we go to 147. We’re speaking proper now with [IBF light welterweight champion] Richardson Hitchins. We’re going to unify,” mentioned Teofimo Lopez to Combat Hub TV about his negotiating a Unification combat with IBF gentle welterweight champion Richardson Hitchins.
Hitchins to Expose Teo?
Preventing Richardson Hitchins is dangerous for Teofimo as a result of he was outboxed in his fights in opposition to Jamaine Ortiz, Sandor Martin, and George Kambosos Jr. within the final 4 years.
The judges saved Lopez’s cover within the Jamaine and Sandor fights, which appeared to lose however have been gifted choices. The unkindest reduce of all was how badly Teofimo appeared in opposition to bottom-feeder Steve Claggett in his final combat on July twenty ninth.
This was presupposed to be a confidence-builder for Lopez after how badly he struggled in opposition to Jamaine Ortiz in his earlier contest, however he appeared simply as dangerous in opposition to Claggett. Lopez took a whole lot of punishment to the top. On the finish of the combat, the downtrodden Lopez resembled Rocky Balboa from the film, ‘Rocky,’ together with his face crushed up and searching horrible.
Hitchins will possible make a idiot of Teofimo and beat him worse than he did Liam Paro and John Bauza. These are fighters that may give Teo pure hell, however Hitchins schooled them from A to B.
Teofimo’s One-Hit Marvel Standing
If Teo loses to Hitchins, Turki Al-Sheikh would possibly want to consider washing his palms of the Brooklyn, New York native and see him as a waste of time. If I have been Turki, I’d have an early launch clause in my three-fight contract with Teofimo, making the final two fights conditional on him beating Hitchins. If he loses that combat, I’d reduce him lose.
Teofimo’s fame got here from combating at light-weight, beating largely lesser fighters till pulling an upset of an injured one-armed Vasily Lomachenko in 2020.
That’s the solely actual stable win on Lopez’s resume, and that was a scenario the place he appeared a lot larger than Lomachenko, at 15 lbs, and combating an injured fighter. Teofimo has crushed nobody since to dwell as much as the hype from that upset. It’s clear that Lopez was by no means nearly as good as individuals thought he was, they usually’d shaped their opinions based mostly on his win over Loma with out factoring within the harm the Ukrainian was coping with, and the large dimension benefit Teo loved in that match.
