TEOFIMO LOPEZ Q&A
that fight is the corner, and how they acted that night was ridiculous and unprofessional. Rolly hit me far harder than Shakur did. Shakur never hurt me in any exchanges. There was one angle where it looked like I was falling down from a shot, but I got my legs tangled. Ring: When I spoke to your father before the Rolly fight, he blamed himself for the Stevenson performance. What happened? TL: Ten days before the Stevenson fight, give or take a few days, I noticed my father was in the bathroom for a long time. I mean he would be in there for hours. When it was time to train, he would come up with this excuse that he didn’t feel good. Because of that, it reduced the pace we need to do to get ready. I would substitute regular running routines with other things. There were things we needed to do for what we call crunch time, two
weeks before a fight, and we weren’t doing it. It’s always those last two, three weeks that we consistently get sharper and better. I don’t know if he celebrated early, thinking I was going to walk all over Stevenson. By how well I was sparring and connecting on different angles and shots, he got overconfident and began celebrating early – and celebrating in the wrong way. He was doing drugs, [heavy] drugs, and drinking alcohol. I had a feeling it was happening, but no one in the camp was telling me what was really going on. For that, it cost me a whole new way of thinking about what to do next. It left me alone in the ring that night. I didn’t talk to him after that, because he went off the rails even more. He looked like a guy in the streets, and it hurt seeing my father like that. I had to dismiss myself from that. He was doing great for a long time. For the [Arnold] Barboza fight
[in May 2025], he was doing great. Things occurred, and I don’t know if he was doing anything when he went to Honduras, but things began to unfold soon after the [Canelo Alvarez- Terence Crawford] fight [on September 13, 2025]. The day after, things got worse. My assistant trainer and my father would argue all the time. It’s like anything else; you don’t see the problem. Now he’s better than ever. If anything, my father made me realize the importance of family. And although he’s my father and I love him to death, I have a son, Teofimo Jr., who sees me like I see my dad, as a superhero, and I can’t let my son see me that way. I have to live up to being a superhero in my son’s eyes. Ring: You and I have spoken about some of the issues you had. You used to smoke weed on occasion. You don’t anymore. I’ve been with you during
follows what I do. I also believe he’s been handed everything. Everything I achieved came through hard work. What I have, I earned. He’s been carried. He’s been given everything, and I’ve been given nothing. Look at his last two fights and look at my last two fights. Garcia beat one of the worst welterweight champions in boxing history in Mario Barrios, and he beat Benn. Garcia is a year younger than me. I would love to beat his ass. This is the takeover and I will always be the truth of it. Ring: Is it motivating that Ryan Garcia is considered a pretty boy? TL: He won’t be after I’m done with him. (laughs) Seeing what I have seen, I can definitely see myself getting into his head, especially the way I am now. I’m a different person. I needed this version of me to come out. Once he faces a fighter like me, he will not be fully on mentally. I don’t respect anything he’s done, because he’s done nothing. He can’t deal with anyone like me. He just won a world title at 27. By that age, I had [seven] world titles. I know Ryan from the amateurs. He’s always been the pretty boy going after the girls after the tournaments. He’s always been the hotshot; always been that, always been this. Good for him. Ring: And good for you as a new girl dad. How has this new addition changed you? TL: I’m always changing, always looking to better myself. I have my son, who’s 5, and now I have Ella Bloom Lopez. My children are everything to me. It still hasn’t hit me that she’s here. She was supposed to come right after my fight with Rolly. We had to wait a little longer for her to arrive. She is going to bring out a different version of me in and out of the ring. A lot of the fighters out there are in for a rude awakening, because I have a young girl who needs to be sure her daddy is coming back home. My father is right again. I have my son, and now my daughter. I’m in the best place in my life right now.
Security foiled Lopez’s attempt to face off with Ryan Garcia in the ring.
Stevenson fight. I was thinking about Stevenson, and I was worried about my dad. I also thought the trainer my father selected for the fight was not the right fit, Stacey McKinley, the former trainer of Mike Tyson. Ring: It sounds as if there was a lot learned from the Stevenson fight. What will change next time if that happens again? TL: I’ve given so much to boxing, and when I’m fighting for the people more than myself ... I can’t afford to make that mistake again. If that were ever to occur again, you may see different people in my corner and a couple of big things and big changes. There was no need for that to happen during that training camp. If I’m going to lose, I’ll lose in the ring, not before I get into the ring. I had a good feeling that I was going to lose the Stevenson fight before the fight. There is no rematch needed. I got what I wanted to get from that fight. Ring: Now you’re back on top again and it is looking like a megafight with Ryan Garcia sometime in the first quarter of next year. How is that shaping up? TL: I want it to happen at SoFi Stadium during Cinco de Mayo weekend [on May 1, 2027] in Los Angeles. That’s my goal. It could happen as early as
those altered states and it’s as if you are two different people on it and off. Remember the photo shoot in Philly [for the cover of The Ring’s Fighter of the Year issue]? You didn’t recognize me. You thought I was an assassin sent to kill you. How long has it been since you smoked? TL: I was a heavy smoker. It’s been two years now since I stopped. I was in a dark place during that time [in late 2020]. I was in a bad place. I thought everyone was coming at me, even you, (laughs) with a gun. I would beat my son and my daughter’s ass if they ever did anything I did. Me and my father are in a much better place now. I felt the only way to get right was for my father to speak about it. I was distracted for the
January, but I want it to be Cinco de Mayo weekend. We are talking. There were talks two days after Garcia’s fight against Conor Benn [on September 12, 2026]. It’s going to be a diverse undercard with Mexican fighters, Black fighters, Filipino fighters. Like I said earlier, Catterall means nothing to me. Ring: What do you think of Ryan Garcia? TL: I don’t respect him. After the Garcia-Benn fight, it was prearranged for me to go into the ring and confront Ryan. Security gave me the green light to go up in the ring, and they rolled the cameras. As Ryan was calling me up to the ring, at the last minute, security was told not to let me up. I don’t know where that direction came from, but it was good TV. The whole thing was a setup. Garcia and I have no relationship. He believes he’s the best. I know that I’m the best. We never sparred before; we never tasted each other’s power. It is what makes it a great fight. I don’t like him. He copies a lot of what I do. He sees what I say and he puts it in his terms using his social media machine. He’s not creative. He
Lopez is fighting for his family and promises big things in 2027.
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