{"id":8980,"date":"2021-09-20T12:06:32","date_gmt":"2021-09-20T16:06:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gambyl.com\/?p=8980"},"modified":"2021-09-20T12:06:36","modified_gmt":"2021-09-20T16:06:36","slug":"teofimo-the-takeover-lopez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gambyl.com\/en\/boxing\/teofimo-the-takeover-lopez\/","title":{"rendered":"Teofimo “The Takeover” L\u00f3pez"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Boxing Profile: Teofimo L\u00f3pez<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Teofimo Andres L\u00f3pez Rivera Jr. i<\/strong>s an American\u00a0professional boxer <\/a>of Honduran descent.

He is the current unified lightweight world champion<\/strong>, having held the IBF title<\/strong> since 2019, and the WBA (Super)<\/strong>, WBO<\/strong>, and The Ring magazine titles<\/strong> since defeating Vasyl Lomachenko in 2020.

As an amateur, he represented Honduras<\/strong> at the 2016 Summer Olympics<\/strong>.

As of June 2021, he is ranked as the world’s-fifth best active boxer, pound for pound<\/strong>, by ESPN and the Boxing Writers Association of America, seventh by The Ring, and tenth by the TBRB.

He is also ranked as the world’s best active lightweight<\/strong> by The Ring, ESPN, and the TBRB.

L\u00f3pez was born to Honduran immigrants on July 30, 1997, in Brooklyn, New York.

His father and trainer, Te\u00f3fimo L\u00f3pez Sr., started training him at the age of 6.

L\u00f3pez signed with Top Rankin in October 2016 and made his debut on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao vs. Jessie Vargas fight in November of the same year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After compiling a perfect 10-0 record, he announced himself on the world stage in December 2018. He did this by beating veteran Mason Menard<\/strong> with a knockout of the year candidate.

In his next fight, L\u00f3pez<\/strong>, already ranked #9 by the WBA<\/strong>, #11 by the WBC, <\/strong>and #10 by the WBO<\/strong>, faced another boxing veteran in\u00a0Diego Magdaleno<\/strong>. This fight ended in another brutal knockout win for L\u00f3pez.

L\u00f3pez’s <\/strong>winning streak continued, improving to 13-0 with a fifth-round knockout victory against former world title challenger\u00a0Edis Tatli\u00a0on April 20, 2019, on the undercard of\u00a0Terence Crawford\u00a0vs.\u00a0Amir Khan<\/strong>\u00a0at\u00a0Madison Square Garden, New York City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boxing Profile \u2013 Teofimo “The Takeover” Lopez \u2013 Top 3 fights<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

IBF Lightweight Champion:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
  • L\u00f3pez vs. Nakatani<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    On July 19, 2019, L\u00f3pez, who was ranked #4 by the IBF at the time, faced undefeated Masayoshi Nakatani, who was ranked #3. This happened in a final eliminator for the IBF world lightweight title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In the fourth round, L\u00f3pez knocked Nakatani down with his right hand, but the referee ruled it a slip. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The fight marked the first time\u00a0L\u00f3pez\u00a0<\/strong>had gone 12 rounds in his career; he was awarded a unanimous decision victory with scores of 118-110, 118-110, 119-109. More importantly, this fight set up a clash with IBF champion Richard Commey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    • L\u00f3pez vs. Commey<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      On December 14, 2019, L\u00f3pez challenged the IBF lightweight champion<\/strong> Richard Commey<\/strong>.

      L\u00f3pez <\/strong>spectacularly won the IBF title after connecting on\u00a0Commey\u00a0<\/strong>with a big right hand. He then finishes him with a second-round technical knockout.

      After the conclusion of the fight, L\u00f3pez <\/strong>was joined in the ring by fellow lightweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko<\/strong>, with whom he took a photo.

      When asked about his plans for his next fight and a possible unification bout with Lomachenko<\/strong>, L\u00f3pez <\/strong>replied: “You guys know who I want,” referring to Lomachenko without explicitly naming him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Unified Lightweight Champion<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
      • L\u00f3pez vs. Lomachenko<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        In September 2020, L\u00f3pez <\/strong>agreed to fight unified WBA (Super), WBO, and\u00a0The Ring<\/em>\u00a0champion,\u00a0Vasyl Lomachenko<\/strong>, on October 17 at the\u00a0MGM Grand\u00a0in\u00a0Las Vegas.

        L\u00f3pez <\/strong>defied the odds with a stunning upset victory as he beat the highly-regarded Ukrainian by unanimous decision. This is to unify the lightweight division and maintain his unbeaten record, with the judges’ scorecards reading 116-112, 117-111, and 119-109.

        The first seven rounds saw L\u00f3pez <\/strong>staying behind his jab and going to the body, with his opponent offering very little in response.

        In the second half, Lomachenko started coming out more offensively, landing more punches.

        However, in the final round, L\u00f3pez <\/strong>landed 50 of 98 punches thrown (51%). This was the most an opponent has landed on Lomachenko <\/strong>in around.

        L\u00f3pez <\/strong>declined to give Lomachenko <\/strong>a rematch, explaining that \u201ceverybody [in Lomachenko\u2019s camp] was being a dick to me, my father. He [Lomachenko] didn\u2019t want to put a rematch clause in our contract.”

        In the wake of his victory, L\u00f3pez <\/strong>asserts that he is the\u00a0undisputed\u00a0lightweight champion, despite not holding the WBC <\/strong>belt.

        However, this claim is contested by many boxing analysts and fans. This as the ‘Franchise’ version of the WBC title <\/strong>won by L\u00f3pez <\/strong>against Lomachenko <\/strong>lacks recognition from a large portion of the boxing community,\u00a0including\u00a0Devin Haney, who is recognized by others as the holder of the legitimate WBC lightweight title<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Teofimo Andres L\u00f3pez Rivera Jr. is an American\u00a0professional boxer of Honduran descent. He is the current unified lightweight world champion, having held the IBF title since 2019, and the WBA (Super), WBO, and The Ring magazine titles since defeating Vasyl Lomachenko in 2020. As an amateur, he represented Honduras at the 2016 Summer Olympics. As […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8997,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[211],"tags":[429,311],"class_list":["post-8980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-boxing","tag-boxing-profile","tag-lightweight"],"aioseo_notices":[],"modified_by":"Erwin Noguera","aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t