Lightweight contender, Keyshawn Davis took to social media to trash Teofimo Lopez for hand-picking unknown fringe contender Steve Claggett to face next instead of fighting him.
Teofimo (20-1, 13 KOs) will be defending his WBO light welterweight title against Claggett (38-7-2, 26 KOs), a borderline journeyman, on June 29th on ESPN at the James L. Knight Center in Miami Beach, Florida.
Davis’ Frustration
Keyshawn is upset becaue he’s been asking Teofimo for a fight, and he said he was told by Teo that he needs to move up to 140 and capture an interim title before he’ll consider fighting him.
Davis isn’t the only guy Teofimo has turned down recently. He reportedly rejected the idea of fighting these three:
– Elvis Rodriguez
– Kenneth Sims Jr.
– Raymond Muratalla
The 34-year-old Claggett doesn’t have an interim title, and he’s ranked low at #13 WBO, which suggests that Teofimo has lost interest in taking risky fights after the tough time he had in his previous fighting, struggling to a controversial 12 round decision win over Jamaine Ortiz last February.
Keyshawn (10-0, 7 KOs) is fighting Miguel Madeuno next on July 6th at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Keyshawn’s Social Media Outburst
“Teo is scared as hell. He told me to get an interim belt at 140. Why am I going to get an interim belt at 140 for?” said Keyshawn Davis on social media about WBO light welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez giving him the brush off by telling him he needs to go up to 140 and capture an interim belt before he’d consider fighting him.
Yeah, I think Teofimo’s confidence is gone after his bad experiences against Jamaine Ortiz, Sandor Martin, Pedro Campa and George Kambosos Jr. It’s safe to say that Teofimo is starting to suspect that he’s not as good as he originally thought he was after his win over Vasily Lomachenko in 2020, and he’s now just playing it safe, taking easy paydays at ESPN and Top Rank’s expense, waiting for a cash-out where it won’t matter if he loses again.
“That’s how you tell I’m ready to fight you by getting an interim belt? I got three interim belts already at 135. So, he’s saying go up to 140 to go get another belt that I already have? And then he’s saying that he don’t know these promotions be giving out belts. He’s a b***h,” said Keyshawn about Teofimo.
“He’s scared, he don’t want to fight me. Then he keeps taking about I didn’t deserve it. All y’all fans are going along with it, yet when his fight gets announced and he’s fighting Steve Claggett, y’all want to say, ‘Who the f*** is he? Why the f*** is he fighting Claggett? When is he going to have a step-up?’ But get mad at me for calling the man [Teofimo] out.”
The fight against Jamaine Ortiz took the last bit of Teofimo’s confidence, leaving him the timid fighter who rejected four quality opponents in favor of fighting the journeyman Claggett on June 29th.
“Y’all know me. Y’all don’t know Claggett. That don’t even make sense. Y’all say I haven’t done anything to deserve a title shot against Teo, but y’all get mad at Teo for Claggett. Don’t get mad at me or Teo for Claggett. Get made at your damn self. Y’all don’t know what y’all want,” said Keyshawn.
It’s a waste of Keyshawn’s time to continue to push for a fight against Teofimo because the writing is on the wall. He doesn’t want to fight Keyshawn or any risky opponents and is just going to continue to take easy paydays from ESPN and Top Rank until a cash-out falls into his lap against someone like Ryan Garcia or Devin Haney. If those fights don’t happen, Teofimo will take easy ones for as long as Top Rank is willing to pay him to fight fodder-level opposition.
If they put Teofimo’s feet to the fire to demand hs fight quality opposition, he’ll likely balk and Top Rank will need to wash their hands of him, and he’ll leave just like Edgar Berlanga did.
“I don’t know who Claggett is. I didn’t know who Claggett was until they announced he’s fighting Teo. If they had given me Claggett, y’all would have said the same thing. ‘When is Keyshawn going to step up his competition?’ Because y’all don’t know him,” said Keyshawn.
