By Declan Taylor
IT IS five years since Boxing News sat down with Teofimo Lopez for the first in-depth interview with the prodigious New Yorker.
That April day, in Manhattan, as Lopez prepared to face Edis Tatli at Madison Square Garden, the youngster had spoken about his plans to dominate across a number of divisions once he had cleaned up at lightweight.
He had also explained how his father, Teofimo Sr, a former limousine driver, had sculpted him into the fighter who had genuine designs on a Hall of Fame career. Indeed, his actual quote was a ‘career that will go down as one of the greatest ever’. The headline of ‘Golden Child’ had seemed fitting.
As he spoke, the 21-year-old often gazed over to his then girlfriend Cynthia, to give her a smile or a wave, revealing that he was planning on marrying her as soon as possible. He beat the experienced former European champion Tatli a few days later, via fifth round knockout and, after celebrating with a slice of pizza a few blocks from MSG, he and Cynthia tied the knot 48 hours later.
But while the above would have been a solid start to the Lopez fairytale, the five years that followed have not exactly panned out as planned. He did, of course, win three of four belts at lightweight, thanks in no small part to an iconic victory over Vasily Lomachenko in October 2020.
However, it was shortly after that victory, one of the best of any active fighter on the planet right now, that Lopez revealed he had considered suicide multiple times. There was also talk of money troubles leaving him nearly potless despite such a rapid ascent to the throne. Then, 11 months on from his victory over Loma, he was dropped en route to a decision loss to George Kambosos Jr.
He rebuilt inside the ring up at 140lbs with a pair of 2022 victories in 10-rounders against Pedro Campa and then Sandor Martin but by 2023 his personal life was crumbling. His marriage to Cynthia, a former air stewardess he had met while on a flight, was falling apart and he claimed he was no longer able to see his young son as a result.
It’s impossible, therefore, to know where we stand on the Lopez story arc as of now, even though he is world champion again as a result of last June’s victory over Josh Taylor.
“Things are great,” he tells Boxing News, without a hint of doubt. “It’s honestly great. I learned from one of my biggest mentors and that’s Bruce Lee. Be water my friend, which I have tattooed right here across my arm. He says ‘be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself’.
“Those are the three things that I did leading up to the Loma fight and after it, too – expressing myself to that degree of just saying ‘this is what’s going on’. By doing those things, instead of holding it all in and letting it mould in and kill me inside, I released all of that. Yes, I released it to the public and to the world it showed people that I also have things I have to go through.
“It’s like a yin yang, right? You have to choose your battles. You have to choose what darkness is going to come. Is it the darkness of serving something bad or is it the darkness of just going through that bad stuff to get to the light? That’s the difference maker right there and not a lot of people get that until they are in it.”
His first super-lightweight world title defence – against Jamaine Ortiz in February – came and went without much trouble, and few are expecting him to slip up against Steve Claggett this weekend either.
And while tumult outside the ring can often result in fading performances within it, Lopez argues it has only tightened his focus. His training camp might have been punctuated regularly by tears but Lopez is adamant that will bring out the best of him at the James L Knight Center in Miami Beach.
“You have to realise that, as boxers, it’s our biggest blessing,” Lopez explains. “There are many things we can’t control but we can control one thing – and that’s what happens in the ring.”
A full version of this feature appears in the latest Boxing News.Buy here to read.
