He refused to say who he wants to fight next. Said his next battle is in court for custody of his son. Also discussed the end of his five-year marriage, which he said has taken a toll on him.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JUNE 10: Josh Taylor (L) and Teofimo Lopez (R) exchange punches during their WBO junior welterweight championship fight at The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden on June 10, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Mikey Williams/Top Rank Inc via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JUNE 10: Teofimo Lopez inside the ring before his WBO junior welterweight championship fight against Josh Taylor, at The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden on June 10, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Mikey Williams/Top Rank Inc via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JUNE 10: Josh Taylor inside the ring before his WBO junior welterweight championship fight against Teofimo Lopez, at The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden on June 10, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Mikey Williams/Top Rank Inc via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JUNE 10: Teofimo Lopez walks to the ring before his WBO junior welterweight championship fight against Josh Taylor, at The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden on June 10, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Mikey Williams/Top Rank Inc via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JUNE 10: Teofimo Lopez walks to the ring before his WBO junior welterweight championship fight against Josh Taylor, at The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden on June 10, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Mikey Williams/Top Rank Inc via Getty Images)He clarified that he doesn't want to kill anyone in the ring, and showed some respect for Taylor after the two went at it during fight week.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JUNE 10: Teofimo Lopez focus during his WBO junior welterweight championship fight against Josh Taylor, at The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden on June 10, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Mikey Williams/Top Rank Inc via Getty Images)Teofimo Lopez is a champion once again.
Less than two years after surrendering his unified lightweight crown, the 25-year-old Brooklyn native reignited his career Saturday with a near-flawless unanimous-decision win over Scotland’s Josh Taylor (19-1). In doing so, he not only won Taylor’s WBO junior welterweight title, but instantly extinguished the doubts that had been growing about his stalled career over the last few years.
There were no knockdowns to speak of, but nearly every facet of the fight belonged to Lopez (19-1), who landed more than 138 power punches for the evening, compared to just 60 for Taylor.
The only victory for Taylor was that he managed to stay upright, even as he was being throttled by Lopez in the final moments.
Lopez was throttling Taylor by the end of the 12th. Taylor's only victory was that he remained upright.
Again, Lopez is in complete control. Crowd now serenading him with chants of 'Teo" again
Taylor needs a knockout. No other road to victory. Lopez just needs to stay upright and he's the WBO junior welterweight champion.
All three landed cleanly. Taylor's corner needs to be ready to stress the situation to him now. Unless he shows something in the 10th, there's no real reason to continue.
The Brooklyn native showed off some footwork in the frame before launching a right that sent Taylor reeling. Taylor stumbled back, while spitting a shower of blood and spit into the air. The sound ringside was pretty ghastly.
At most he can claim two (maybe three) of the first eight rounds. He needs to step on the gas a bit here, but Lopez isn't an easy target and he's landing the better punches with each exchange.
Taylor may have won the round with a late flurry, but Taylor looked much sharper
Another round won for Lopez. He's likely up 4 or 5 at this point.
These aren't clear-cut victories for Lopez, but he's appeared to win everything after the first frame.
Might not be much right now, but something to keep an eye on.
They're both landing punches, but Lopez's have been stronger so far.
Taylor landed a few solid shots in the fourth though. I'm saying Lopez is up 3-1 right now. 39-37
Only a small (but loud) contingent of fans taking part in the chorus.
No knockdown
Not emphatically, but he got the better of a few exchanges after the late hit and slip
No knockdown.
Lopez was furious and pushed referee Michael Griffith to urge him to warn Taylor about that.
8 to 6 edge on power punches in the second round, in favor of Teo.
From ringside, it appears as though Lopez's nose has a small cut.
Got the better of their two or three real exchanges. But Lopez landed a few as well. Very exciting first round. 10 power punches to 8 in favor of Taylor.
Looks like referee Michael Griffin warned him against that
Gets the the best between the two in the corner.
Southpaw Taylor makes a few early attempts at the body. Lopez counters, but nobody really lands anything.
Seems a lot of folks are rooting for Taylor, regardless of whether or not they're from Scotland.
I'd say Lopez has the edge in the crowd, but it's not a clear edge.
Currently walking down the steps past fans and into the ring.
Good reception for the 25-year-old Brooklyn native.
Now it's time for Josh Taylor's ring walk.
Zayas:
“Thank you to all my Puerto Rican fans and to everyone that came out. This is a dream come true. I’m very happy to have fought during Puerto Rican Day Parade weekend. He was a tough guy. I was hitting him with everything. He didn’t want to go down. He was here to fight. He was motivated. He was tough. But we passed with flying colors. Unanimous decision. And we made the adjustments we needed to do.”
“He brought out the dog in me. I had to dig deep. I had to stay focused. I had to listen to my corner. And most importantly I had to have fun, which was the most important part. I had the crowd here cheering for me, so I was trying to stay as focused as possible.”
Tonight's bout has broken the gate record for a boxing event at the MSG Theater, previously held by the 2018 fight between Vasiliy Lomachenko and Jose Pedraza.
Chants of "Teo! Teo!" have begun for the challenger.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JUNE 10: Teofimo Lopez gets his hands wrapped before his WBO junior welterweight championship fight against Josh Taylor, at The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden on June 10, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Mikey Williams/Top Rank Inc via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JUNE 10: Josh Taylor gets his hands wrapped before his WBO junior welterweight championship fight against Teofimo Lopez, at The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden on June 10, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Mikey Williams/Top Rank Inc via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JUNE 10: Xander Zayas celebrates after defeating Ronald Cruz, during their super welterweight fight at The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden on June 10, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Mikey Williams/Top Rank Inc via Getty Images)But large groups of Scottish fans, Polish fans, and a good amount of fans waving Honduran flags, for Lopez.
New York always has a colorful, diverse crowd, which is why NYC fight cards tend to have boxers from around the world.
I'm sure Teofimo Lopez believes he can still fill the main Madison Square Garden arena, where he fought back in December, but 5,600 fans at these prices is still a good showing.
Ring walks are expected at 11:15pm local time (4:15am in the UK)
Will be interesting to see who he fights next. Zayas, 20, is still looking for a real challenge.
Cruz looks resigned to defeat at this point. He's focusing on protecting himself and lasting through the eighth and final round.
Cruz didn't seem to mind and Zayas apologized.
Zayas is just cruising right now. His jab isn't doing much damage, but he's getting Cruz to react and then landing more powerful combinations. Very exciting talent for Top Rank.
There was one exchange in the second round that Cruz appeared to win, but Zayas' reach and speed is a problem. He's also delivering power punches without any fear of being hit by Cruz.
McCoy is rumored to be a possible replacement for Shannon Sharpe alongside Skip Bayless on FS1's Undisputed.
Zayas' talent is obvious to anyone who watched the first round. Cruz is getting his face iced down in the corner now. Zayas looks unfazed in his.
Cruz has a reach disadvantage and Zayas is well aware to say the least.
Cruz is back up
... the majority of fans tonight seem to be for him. Even with a large contingent of Scottish fans here, Zayas appears to have New York's sizeable Puerto Rican population behind him.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JUNE 10: Josh Taylor arrives to the arena before his WBO junior welterweight championship fight against Teofimo Lopez, at The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden on June 10, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Mikey Williams/Top Rank Inc via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JUNE 10: Teofimo Lopez arrives to the arena before his WBO junior welterweight championship fight against Josh Taylor, at The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden on June 10, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Mikey Williams/Top Rank Inc via Getty Images)LA's Ronald Cruz (18-2-1, 12 KOs) vs. Puerto Rico's Xander Zayas (15-0, 10 KOs) at 154 pounds. Zayas is a talented 20-year-old coming off a UD win over Alexis Salazar.
The Brooklyn-born actress is a staple at all New York-area bouts. She and her cousin Sixto (another actor, who has his own boxing-centric internet radio show) used to pull together money for cheap tickets to local fights.
Nowadays they attend as guests of promoters. In this case, Top Rank.
Still just 32, Taylor enters Saturday’s bout with a flawless 19-0 record.
But unlike Lopez, a former lightweight who could conceivably move up to welterweight at some point, Taylor is a natural at 140 pounds.
He does have one similarity to Lopez: They’re both coming off a controversial split-decision win.
In Taylor’s case, it came in February of 2022 in Glasgow, when the judges narrow gave him the W over Catterall.
Taylor still has major wins over Jose Ramirez and Regis Prograis on his resume, so it’s not as though he’s carrying around a paper title in the WBO belt.
But a win over Lopez would go a long way towards erasing his mediocre performance against Catterall in the hearts and minds of fight fans.
He's currently being checked in his corner.
Robson Conceicao is emotionless. Not sure if he thinks this is a ploy by Polanco to buy time.
Omar Rosario improves to 12-0 with the UD win over Jan Carlos Rivera, who now falls to 8-2 with the defeat. Good win for Rosario
Teofimo Lopez enters Saturday night in a three-year tailspin, give or take.
Since upsetting Vasiliy Lomachenko by unanimous decision in 2020, Lopez has fought only four times, including his 2021 split-decision defeat to Australia’s George Kambosos Jr. — a fight that was delayed after the Brooklyn native tested positive for COVID-19.
Along the way, Lopez has alienated fans and promoters, both of which have grown frustrated with the mercurial talent.
Most recently, he confessed to wanting ’to kill’ Taylor in Saturday’s fight, which is the sort of thing that’s frowned upon in boxing, sports, and all walks of life.
And Lopez double downed on the remark in a recent interview with ESPN’s Mark Kriegel.
"Ain't nothing wrong with it," he says. "You're going to tell me boxing is not a deadly sport?”
What’s more, Lopez said he wants to be killed in a fight.
"I want to die in the ring," Lopez told Kriegel. "But like, that's a little feeling inside that I do want to have."
Lopez has been at odds with his promoter, Bob Arum, as well, suggesting that the TopRank CEO is more focused on promoting African-American fighters than himself, the son of Honduran immigrants.
"If they want the black fighters,’ Lopez told Punsh Drunk Boxing, ‘they can keep them.”
Lopez also told ESPN that he believes the network anchors discriminate against him while favoring African-American boxers.
He didn’t mention Devin Haney by name, but it’s the current undisputed lightweight champion who appears to have replaced Lopez in the Top Rank hierarchy.
It was only in 2020 when Lopez appeared to be the biggest rising talent in the division, if not all of boxing.
Now he’s fight strictly at 140 pounds, leaving boxing’s hottest weight class in his rearview mirror.
Will he be the same draw at junior welterweight going forward? Does he have enough power to compete at 147 pounds?
These are the questions Lopez may need to be asking himself unless he impresses against Josh Taylor tonight.
He keeps his momentum moving forward very well. Jan Carlos Rivera has been on his heels through the first two rounds. Rosario looks calm and unbothered in the corner.
Rivera's team is calling for him to do more body work in the third.
Tall fighter who keeps his hands low. Obviously can't compete with Fury's hand speed, but he certainly has some ability.
Of course, he has yet to fight anyone of note, but tonight looks like a good stepping stone.
He previously fought in April, beating Curtis Harper with an eighth-round stoppage.
Native Mexican looks exhausted, but actually seems to be absorbing the barrage from Knyba, who has a massive reach advantage.
For those who aren't familiar with New York-area fights, the presence of a single Polish fighter typically means a large contingent of fans in red shirts. Tonight is no different.
Not much Luis Porozo could do there. Just overwhelmed by Carrington.
Next up is a heavyweight bout between Helaman Olguin (9-5-1, 4 KOs) and Poland's Damian Knyba (11-0, 7 KOs)
For those watching in the UK, enjoy some coffee tonight because ringwalks are scheduled for 4:15am.
The undercard is underway, with Brooklyn featherweight Bruce Carrington up against Ecuador's Luis Porozo. Carrington, fighting out of the red corner, is 7-0 in his promising career. Still just 26.
Theater is already halfway full.
Host commentator