Teofimo Lopez is back in the hot seat.
The former unified lightweight champion and current 140-pound contender caused a stir earlier this week when he made highly critical comments about ESPN analysts Andre Ward and Timothy Bradley, blaming the Hall of Famers for misrepresenting his fights. Lopez is promoted by Top Rank, which has an exclusive output deal with ESPN.
Lopez, 25, took aim with the way Ward and Bradley discussed his previous fights, particularly during his upset loss to George Kambosos Jr. and his last fight, a close split decision over Sandor Martin.
In a stormy, wide-ranging rant, Lopez also referred to “Black fighters” in a manner that many on social media seemed to view as being either racially insensitive or flat-out racist.
“This is the thing, commentators are the ones that convince everybody someone else is winning,” Lopez told Punsh Drunk Boxing. “ So watch the Kambosos fight without the commentators, watch my last fight without the commentators, and you will see the results.
“At the fighters meeting I dissed Andre Ward and Timothy Bradley in front of ESPN’s production for all the affiliation and corruption that they do,” Lopez said. “And what happened? I put more weight on my back, and all they was talking about, right away, when I slipped with the first knockdown they called.
“I slipped, they called it right away. What did Bradley say, ‘He’s hurt, he’s hurt!’ So I don’t sugarcoat sh!t. All these motherf—— d!ck ride and they suck d!ck—sorry for my language. But that is the problem, I don’t ride off that.”
Lopez then stated that his next fight, a title shot against 140-pound WBO titlist Josh Taylor on June 10 at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City, would be his “last” fight on ESPN.
“And just to put it on the spot, this is my last fight on ESPN,” Lopez continued. “I’m sorry, but I’m not sorry. This is why this fight (Josh Taylor) means everything to me. If they want the Black fighters they can keep them. I brought Bud Lite to Top Rank.”
The comment about “Black fighters” immediately sparked a firestorm online.
In response to the backlash, Lopez’s father, Teofimo Lopez Sr., went on another outlet to defend his son, repeatedly insisting that his son was not a bigot. Lopez Sr. said his son is simply frustrated by the fact that he feels his promoter is not prioritizing him in the same way as other fighters in their stable, many of whom happen to be Black.
“When my son said Top Rank can stay with all their Black fighters—because you know what it is, when Devin Haney came into Top Rank and all this, they’re promoting him more than they’re promoting my son and he feels a little type of way,” Lopez Sr. told Mill City Boxing. “You got to understand this, we’re fighting the top dude, bro. And we got to get some respect for that. And he just feels some type of way, like ‘Oh, they just want to promote the Black fighters.’ You got Keyshawn Davis, you got Shakur Stevenson, you got ‘Baby’ (Jared Anderson).
“So you got all these fighters from Top Rank that are getting more recognition than my son is getting and he’s trying to fight the top dogs. So that’s just something that he had inside…that he’s not being promoted, being appreciated about what he’s doing, bro.
“Like this fight with Josh Taylor, they’re putting him in the f—— Hulu Theater, bro. Like, for real, bro?! I mean, this is the fight that’s going to put him in the Hall of Fame. This is a big fight and nobody is even mentioning it, bro. So that’s why he’s like that. He got a lot of sh!t in his f—– chest.
“A lot of people is going to try to put this sh!t like he’s racist. Bro…my son-in-law is black, you understand? My daughter got married to a Black dude, bro. I love Black people. We all love Black people, we was raised with Black people, bro. I lived in the projects, bro. I don’t even got to explain myself because it’s stupid.
Lopez Sr. said his son was aware that he made a mistake and that he has urged him to make a formal apology through the media.
“[My son] understood that he was wrong with what he said,” Lopez Sr. said. “But it has nothing to do with race. It has nothing to do with that. You can’t mention the word ‘Black’ nowadays because everybody gets offended. It’s a word that you cannot use. And I told him ‘you got to talk to the media, apologize and let them know that you didn’t have no (racist intent)’ — like he didn’t say it like in a racist way, bro.
“He just said it like ‘Top Rank is really just focusing on the Black fighters because it’s the market. Marketing f—– strategy. They see that’s what people want to see. They love Black fighters. I mean, they the best at what they do. You know, Black people are f—— very athletic, bro. Nobody can beat them, and I understand that.
“But we get the chance to prove to the world that my son can be the best fighter in the world, and that’s all we want, bro. We want the chances, and when we get them, we go for it.”
By Sean Nam