Teofimo Lopez has an idea or two of what could compel him back to the ring.
The former unified lightweight champion and recently crowned junior welterweight titlist turned heads earlier this week when he announced his retirement from the sport. Not even two days after he earned a unanimous decision over WBO 140-pound titlist Josh Taylor at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City, the 25-year-old Lopez went on ESPN and told Max Kellerman that he was effectively done with prizefighting.
Lopez then further solidified his intentions when he indicated to the head of the WBO, Paco Valcarcel, on Thursday, that he was vacating his newly-won WBO belt.
Lopez has stated that the only way he could be coaxed into returning to the sport would be for a “nine-figure” contract. He reiterated those sentiments in a recent interview in which he expressed his deep dissatisfaction with the business side of boxing. The Brooklyn native also noted that a hypothetical deal would have to be consummated directly with a network, that is, without the involvement of a promoter. Lopez is promoted by Top Rank, which has an exclusive output deal with ESPN.
“The only way I come, like I said, is [for a] multi[-bout] nine-figure deal, but it has to be—see, people misunderstand what I mean—it’s not just a good fight,” Lopez told Boxing Social. “I’m looking at three to five years or like a six, eight-fight deal, with a network—not with a promoter or anything—but just directly with a network because I am my own promotion.
“The only reason why is I know what the boxing industry is going to do to me if I come back. And I’m O.K. with that. I’ll sacrifice my greatness for it as long as my family is gonna be well and secured after that. Because that is really what is to me [important]: setting the trend of … generational wealth. That’s the most important thing. I want my son’s sons to live off the things that their father or their great grandfather did for them. That’s why if I go back, no one expected me to call out retirement. They all expected me to say I’ll fight [Gervonta] Tank Davis and all this other bullsh!t but I’m not in there.”
“I’m a businessman,” Lopez said. “I’m very smart. I’m not a stupid kid. I’m a very intelligent kid. I use the narratives out there to my benefit and to my actual liking. It’s so easy now. You become Picasso. You become the guy to paint whatever you want the world to see.”
Lopez has stated that his “next fight” is in the courtroom, finishing up divorce proceedings with his ex-wife with whom he has a son.
Sean Nam is the author of Murder on Federal Street: Tyrone Everett, the Black Mafia, and the Last Golden Age of Philadelphia Boxing.