Theofimio Lopez must soon decide whether to retain his WBO lights of Welterweight title or give it to focus on his potential battle in October against IBF champion Jaron ‘Boots’ on the Riyadh card of Turki Al-Sheikh.
WBO Date
The Ring reports that the World Goat Organization TheOFIMO (21-0, 13 COs) ordered to defend its 140-pound belt against the winner of the collision on February 15 between WBO Arnold Barboza Jr. (31-0, 11 COs) and #2 Jack Catterall (30-1, 13 KO).
TEO must defend its WBO title against the winner of the fight within 180 days, with a deadline of August 14. While it can definitely defend his title against the Barboza JR-Catterall winner for Lopez within that time, it seems 100% unrealistic that he will do so because of the risk of losing.
Those ‘Brooklyn Vampire‘As some fans call theofimo, his promoters have been well protected over the past four years since George Kambosos Jr. Exposed him in a 12-round defeat of the decision in 2021.
Even with the accurate top ranking for theofimo, he still had to be saved from the defeats by the judges’ standings in his fighting against Sandor Martin and Chailaine Ortiz in 2022 and 2024.
It has been spoken that Teo is fighting a unification against IBF Light Welterweight Champion Richardson Hitchins (19-0, 7 food), possibly in April as part of the three-match agreement that Lopez signed with Turki Al-Sheikh.
However, since theofimo did not mention the battle in interviews, it indicates that he uses the risky match. Lopez would traditionally avoid That type of struggle with every gram of its being. He is unable to beat a high -level talent like Hitchins, and he will look stupid.
If Turki wants theofimo to fight Hitchins, he may have to pay him an excessive amount or kick him in the ring and scream. It is unclear how much theo wants for a fight against Hitchins, but it will not be surprising if it was an absurd number.
It is a terrible game for Lopez and would start him badly with a one-sided loss in his three-match agreement with Turki. It would not be bad for Al-Sheikh if ​​he had an escape clause in his contract with TheOFIMO to get him out of the agreement if he immediately lost in his first fight.
If Teo is emptied by Hitchins in a one-sided defeat, he would be useless for Turki for a fight against ‘Boots’ Ennis on his October card in Riyadh. Boxing fans do not want to again in a fight with Ennis at the back of a loss and four terrible actions against Steve Claggett, Chamely Ortiz, Sandor Martin and George Kambosos jr.
