Teofimo Lopez abruptly got here ahead and sat up in his chair as if he had been ready for the questions.
And out got here his trademark smile, alongside along with his sometimes brash persona.
Why is he so disliked amongst his contemporaries?
Why achieve this many assume he’s problematic?
“As a result of I’m nice,” Lopez rapidly instructed The Put up. “And I did it quicker than all of the champions that you may consider and identify. Plus, I’ve a clear picture. Plus, nobody controls me. Plus, there’s numerous plusses right here.
“Individuals may write me off all they need, that solely motivates me to point out the youngsters on the market that, to hell what different folks say about you, to hell if they are saying you’re loopy. You recognize what’s loopy? Not believing in your self. Now that’s loopy.”
However it was that criticism and animosity towards him that prompted Lopez (19-1, 13 KOs), the 26-year-old Brooklyn native and two-division champion, who presently owns the WBO tremendous light-weight belt, to briefly retire.
Following his final bout, a dominant unanimous determination victory over Josh Taylor in June at The Theater at Madison Sq. Backyard that earned him his present title, Lopez declared his imminent retirement from boxing.
Most knew that Lopez was clearly not severely stepping away, however his sense of resentment towards a lot of the boxing group was telling.
He after all didn’t keep retired lengthy, and he now defends his WBO tremendous light-weight title as a heavy favourite towards Jamaine Ortiz (17-1-1) as the primary occasion of Prime Rank’s card on Feb. 8 (ESPN, 10:30 p.m. ET) on the Michelob Extremely Area in Las Vegas — proper firstly of town’s Tremendous Bowl weekend.
“Everybody needed to place this title on me that I’m loopy and never proper mentally,” Lopez stated. “So I stated you already know what? The hell with it. I stated I’ll retire and allow you to guys be with these different fighters that you just declare are higher than me and have accomplished greater than me. Let’s see what they do and what they carry to the desk.
“I needed boxing to comprehend that I’m what they want, whether or not they like me or not.”
Lopez talked about numerous names in reference to ones others assume are higher or extra achieved than he’s.
WBC tremendous light-weight champion and former undisputed light-weight champion Devin Haney and WBC light-weight champion Shakur Stevenson, a three-division champion, had been the primary two.
Together with Gervonta Davis, Ryan Garcia and others, they make up an unique group of the most important stars at light-weight and tremendous light-weight, two divisions whose elite have emerged as a few of the greatest attracts in boxing.
It’s a gaggle that Lopez, who burst onto the season as one of many pound-for-pound greatest at an early age when he beat Vasiliy Lomachenko in 2020 to grow to be the unified light-weight champion, had considerably gone lacking from in latest occasions.
After beating Lomachenko, at simply 23 years previous, Lopez subsequently misplaced to George Kambosos in his first protection to relinquish his WBA, WBO and IBF light-weight belts.
Lopez then started his comeback at tremendous light-weight.
He knocked out Pedro Campa in his debut within the division earlier than an uninspiring — and controversial — cut up determination win over Sandor Martin.
The bout towards Martin raised issues that maybe Lopez’s greatest was behind him, and that he’d not once more attain the heights he beforehand did.
However he regarded like his previous self, if not higher, towards Taylor, a well-respected former undisputed champion.
It served as a stark reminder of what a drive Lopez might be and what an exhilarating present he produces.
“That was one of the best efficiency I ever had in my entire profession, up to now” Lopez stated. “And the rationale I say up to now is as a result of we don’t know what I’m gonna do subsequent. And that’s the entire fantastic thing about it. It’s the unknown.”
Somebody who’s at all times cognizant of being an entertaining, not only a dominant fighter, Lopez now takes his present to a metropolis well-known for its entertainers.
It’s becoming — an entertaining fighter performing in an entertaining metropolis.
However it’s additionally becoming — like an entertainer preventing for consideration in Las Vegas, Lopez has to combat for his spot amongst a crowded subject of stars at an identical age and weights.
It’s a great factor he loves to face out.
“I’ve at all times been that particular person, I by no means was in a gaggle,” Lopez stated. “Beginning with the amateurs, I’ve by no means been in a gaggle. I’ve at all times been on my own. Proper now, I’m on my own. And that’s how it’s once we go within the ring.
“So why do I want a gaggle to make me really feel assured about myself?”