Teofimo Lopez has a “screw loose” – Bob Arum on contract dispute

Bob Arum says his fighter, WBO light welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez, is “acting like he has a screw loose” while he believes his contract with Top Rank is invalid. Promoter Arum announces that two-division world champion Teofimo (21-1, 13 KOs) has signed an extension for his fight against Sandor Martin in 2022.

In an interview with Dan Rafael on XArum said Teofimo is still under contract with Top Rank and is “there in black and white.”

Teofimo talks eagerly about wanting to fight Terence Crawford, who has shown no interest in fighting him. If Teo does get his release from Top Rank, some believe he will sign with Matchroom and fight on DAZN. T

How Teofimo looked recently, he is on the decline in his eight-year career and just keeps winning, thanks to the careful matchmaking done on his behalf by Top Rank. Brooklyn, New York native Teofimo hasn’t looked like the same fighter he once was since his grueling fight against Vasily Lomachenko on October 17, 2020.

Although Teofimo won that fight by a narrow 12-round majority draw, he took a lot of heavy shots from Lomachenko and hasn’t been the same since. In addition, Teofimo’s behavior outside the ring has been erratic, and he has said bizarre things to the media that have some of them questioning whether he is still mentally there.

Teofimo has fought three times since then, beating Josh Taylor, Jamaine Ortiz and Steve Claggett. He hasn’t been impressive in his last two fights, and he was very poor against Martin. Many boxing fans felt that Teofimo got controversial decisions in his fights against Martin and Ortiz. These were very questionable decisions that went to Teofimo.

He looked like a classic example of a shot fighter in his last fight, working to a 12-round unanimous decision over 35-year-old veteran Steve Claggett on June 29. It was supposed to be a showcase fight for Teofimo to look like gold, but he was awful throughout, working against the ropes in many of the rounds. At the end of the fight, Teofimo’s face was marked and badly swollen over both eyes. Physically, Teofimo looked like the loser.

“Teofimo sometimes acts as if he has a screw loose. I like the kid, but I can’t figure him out, and he doesn’t make any logical sense,” Arum told Dan Rafael. “He first signed an extension with us with the Jose Pedraza fight that didn’t happen, and then when we did another fight with Sandor Martin, he signed the same extension. So it’s there in black and white. I assume he showed the lawyer the first contract and not the second. Dealing with Teofimo is like dealing with Alice in Wonderland.”

Fans believe Arum wants to keep Teofimo and set him up with a cash-out deal, matching him up against Ryan Garcia or Devin Haney to bring in some revenue before his contract ends. Whether any of those fights will happen is unknown. Another of Arum’s fighters, Keyshawn Davis, pushed for a fight against Teofimo, but Teo showed no interest. He wants a revenue-generating fight. It would be Ryan or Haney.

Gervonta Davis has shown no desire to move up to 140 to fight Teofimo, and it is physically impossible for Teo to melt back down to 135. He was putting his body through the wringer to make lightweight during the last year he fought in that weight class in 2021, and he can’t return to that division now.

In Teofimo’s last fight at lightweight he faced George Kambosos Jr. lost by a 12-round split decision. That fight showed that Teofimo stayed at 135 for too long. However, that defeat may have been a product of the punishment Teo took in the Lomachenko fight, as he took many shots from the former three-division world champion.