Teofimo Lopez Wants Catchweight Bout Against Josh Taylor, With Both Undisputed Titles at Stake

[Ruthless-RKO]

Teofimo Lopez Wants Catchweight Bout Against Josh Taylor, With Both Undisputed Titles at Stake

Teofimo Lopez has an idea for killing two birds with one stone.

The unified lightweight champion (WBA/WBO/IBF) thinks Josh Taylor, the undisputed junior welterweight champion, should meet him at a catchweight bout in which they put their respective slew of title belts on the line some time in the near future, meaning the winner becomes the top dog in two weight divisions.

“[We] fight for both titles, for both undisputed [labels],” Lopez recently told IFL TV. “And [we] do a catch-weight either at 138 or even 139. I’ll even go up a little bit so…he has to drop one pound down. Or 137 and a half. Either or. We do that. If Leo Santa Cruz and Gervonta Davis could do that, at 130 and 135 for the WBA [titles], why can’t we do undisputed [versus] undisputed, mix and match, and do a catchweight in between those and the winner becomes undisputed on both weight classes. Right?

“C’mon. This is boxing. If we’re having YouTubers and everything else why the f--- can’t we have that happen. Right? We’re already disrespected in this sport. Why not try to f------ do something like that. That’s irrational?"

Although Lopez (16-0, 12 KOs) feels that he is the rightful undisputed lightweight champion, the WBC lightweight title technically currently belongs to Devin Haney (26-0, 15 KOs). Lopez won the three other major lightweight belts in 2020 after he defeated Vasiliy Lomachenko, who shortly before that matchup was elevated by the WBC to its “Franchise Champion” designation, thus paving the way for Haney to become the sanctioning body’s outright lightweight titleholder.

Lopez was scheduled to face his IBF mandatory George Kambosos on Oct. 16 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. That fight is now in limbo after Triller, who held the promotional rights, revealed on Saturday that they were no longer promoting the contest.

Taylor (18-0, 13 KOs) is set to defend his belts against his WBO mandatory Jack Catterall on Dec. 18 at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland. Taylor unified the 140-pound class last May with a clear decision over Jose Ramirez.

“I’m willing to put all my belts up and do that,” Lopez said of facing Taylor. “Y’all gotta ask Josh Taylor if he’s willing to do that. Don’t tell me after [Jack] Catterall he’s moving up to 147. Nah my guy. Uh, uh. don’t do that. You’re going to fight me. You talked all that smack about me.”

Taylor has hinted that he is bound for the welterweight division sooner rather than later. His promoter, Bob Arum of Top Rank, who also promotes Lopez, has expressed interest in pairing Taylor against Terence Crawford, the 34-year-old WBO welterweight champion at some point in 2022.

Lopez, 24, believes that he poses the more interesting challenge for Taylor.

“Look, no disrespect to Crawford, man,” Lopez said. “But he’s on his way out. I think he knows it. I think he knows it. Know what I mean?

“I’m all about breaking records and all about making history,” Lopez continued. “I feel like it’s going to be a great fight. [Taylor is] an excellent fighter — sometimes. Put him in front of me and I’ll show you what I’m capable of doing to all these guys.”

[victor-romeo]

Maybe Loma should have asked for a catch weight with lopez, but honestly I don't like catch weights or rehydration clauses..

I am not really a fan of Lopez..

[Enlightened-One]

It seems weird to see Teofimo Lopez trying to orchestrate a catchweight bout at 140lbs, when even his own father said (more than a year ago) his son was struggling to compete at 135lbs and was planning to compete at super-lightweight anyway.

The catchweight request is simply Teofimo Lopez's attempt to weaken his opponent in order gain a competitive advantage.

He's employing the Manny Pacquaio strategy to achieving "greatness", which is to force bigger men to fight "small".

[KiwiRider]

This is all a bit pointless if he doesn't get the Kambosos Jr fight out of the way, and take care of any mandatory obligations.
It's no point in blathering to journalists about some catch weight fight for all the belts if you get stripped of them.

[squiggy]

Yeah, kind of rich to be talking right now on theoretical fights, much less calling somebody else out; he's a year on from taking Loma's belts, hasn't been in the ring since, and doesn't appear to actually even have a fight coming up anymore.

[adislav123]

fornicate that catchweight shite alltogether, i know it happened & will happen agaon. still, eff that crap.


on rare occasions it may be acceptable like non title fights nobody gives a shit about anyways between over the hill has beens inbetween light heavy & cruiser.


but with a division every frikkin couple of pounds who needs that shit.

make your weight, rehydrate, let the other guy do his thing & fvckin' fight.

always leaves a bad taste in my opinion.

either you're confident enuff to take your opponent at the weight or not.

even more so if it's for the title in a division.

[gregregegg]

You can’t put the 135 title at stake above 135…

[Lackeos]

Teofimo is the king of 135, but you can't be undisputed without the WBC belt that he doesn't have. And you can't put the undisputed lightweight status on the line if you're fighting above 135. Otherwise, I have no problem with a Lopez - Taylor match-up, and I don't mind a catchweight.

However, since Terence Crawford and Josh Taylor were both undisputed LWW champions, that might be an intriguing match-up in its own way.