Teofimo Lopez takes some time to react to this most recent title win over Rolly Romero, how he felt moving up to welterweight, and his expectations for improvement going forward despite being the fighter that came out on top. Check out some of what Teo had to say during the interview below.
Teofimo on how tough he thought the Rolly fight was
“I probably get more sore during sparring than I did in the fight. I think the 147 division was a great call on behalf of my career and I felt great inside that ring. I showed that I can take a punch from the biggest
puncher at 147 and I just look forward unifying and becoming undisputed, eventually.”
On whether he was satisfied with his performance
“I fought what I was given that night. Rolly was not really throwing as many punches as I hoped. He said he was going to press the fight in previous interviews. I was expecting that, I did not see see that. This is coming from his own mouth itself and from the champion. But we took over. The only thing I would say now is just working on my technique more. That’s it.
“I think me training from February all the way to August also played a factor in me being a little tired as far as just the physicality part, not conditioning part. I do need to have between breaks, right? But I’m more pleased in what I seen in myself in this fight and I know in the next one it’ll get better.
“I didn’t see much from Rolly’s end. I think he was trying to bait me in from what it looked like, but at the same time with the amount of experience I’ve had with all these other champions I’ve faced has prepared me for a fighter like Rolly, if they want to bait me in or not.”
On where he plans to go from here
“We’re going to make these fights happen. I know that people are trying to block it for who knows what reason…however we’re going to make these fights happen. Teofimo is going to end it with becoming undisputed and the final guy you will see is Teofimo vs Devin Haney for undisputed. As long as Devin Haney keeps on winning, I don’t see why we don’t see an undisputed bout happening.”
On how he felt about his father’s corner work
“Yeah, I was happy. My father knows I could always do more…Yes, my father who is my trainer has a very funny way of expressing or explaining instructions to me, and it’s not your normal coaching. However, it is normal to me, not because of anything more — when he says ‘you got to hit him, bro’ I already know what that means.
“When my father says ‘you got to hit him bro,’ I think he just wants me to double up, triple up on it. But that’s what I’m going to take it as…He did good overall. I would say he’s just getting back to his feet again. So, it’s good.”
On whether he ever sees himself rematching Shakur Stevenson
“I think I closed that chapter but if some how, some way there’s a new book that comes in my life and it has his name on the chapter for that new book, then we’ll start reading it and reading into it. But until then we’re going to focus on this road to undisputed.”
