Teofimo Lopez Sr, father of the former unified lightweight champion, has assured that they have the goal of facing the WBO light-welterweight champion Josh Taylor in 2023, in search of being crowned world champion at 140.
Taylor is a great fighter… would be a great fight to do in the UK: Teofimo Lopez Sr
After a successful stint at 135, where he defeated Vasyl Lomachenko and held the WBA, IBF, and WBO championships simultaneously, Teofimo Lopez jumped up to 140. In his only appearance in the division so far this year, Teo outperformed Mexico’s Pedro “Roca” Campa by a seventh-round knockout.
Lopez will once again step into the ring before the end of the year to face José Pedraza. The fight will take place at Madison Square Garden on December 10 so as not to lose the rhythm of the fight. However, Lopez Sr is looking beyond Pedraza, and wants his son to lock horns against Taylor.
“Every time I sit down with my son, we want to fight with the best,” said Lopez Sr in an interview with ESNEWS. “Now we will fight Pedraza before the end of the year. And for the next one we’ll go straight for Josh Taylor, which is the fight we really want.”
Taylor became the 140-pound undisputed champion last year against Jose Ramirez and defended his belts against Jack Catterall in his latest outing, which ended in a controversial 112-113, 114-111, and 113-112 split decision for the Briton in February. However, he vacated his titles one by one, except for the WBO belt.
“The Tartan Tornado” remains undefeated at 19-0 and multiple sources say he will step into the ring in February of next year for a rematch with Catterall for the only belt he retains. After this fight, Teofimo’s father opened the door so that a future clash could take place on British soil.
“I think Taylor is a great fighter and it would be a great fight to do in the UK,” said Teo Sr. “If the circumstances are right, we will take that fight and he will show what he is made of.”
While the aim is to fight Taylor, former two division champion Pedraza is the hurdle before that and Lopez Sr insisted they are taking that challenge with composure.
“Pedraza is a man who was world champion twice and we want to stay active, we don’t want to wait,” Lopez Sr concluded, “We will not fall into excesses of confidence and we are going to really show the level that we have”.
