During a conversation with Marcos Villegas of Fight Hub TV, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum talks about Teofimo Lopez’s return to action this weekend against Pedro Campa and what could potentially lie ahead for Lopez as he looks to campaign at the 140 lb division.
On Lopez looking to show that he’s still the same fighter he was prior to the Kambosos loss
“Well, he better be, because he has his whole future ahead of him. We have a lot of 140 pounders that he can fight and a lot of big, big fights. And it looks like Teofimo is really back.”
On why Lopez is facing Pedro Campa instead of taking a softer touch
“We don’t do softer touches on ESPN. I mean, ESPN pays us good money to do these fights and the viewers want competitive fights and they don’t want walkovers.”
On what he thinks of the Lopez’s move up to the 140 division.
“One, he’s not gonna struggle to make weight the way he did at 135, and I think that will make him a lot better fighter.”
On Ryan Garcia calling out Lopez
“With all due respect, I’ve never talked to Ryan Garcia in my life. And it would be inappropriate for me to talk to him. But Oscar De La Hoya, Golden Boy, are is his promoter and Oscar’s coming to that fight and Oscar and I have a long history together, and if Oscar is interested in making that fight I certainly would entertain it and we can sit down and talk. But I’m not going off on what any particular fighter said.
“If his promoter comes to me and says let’s talk business and let’s see if we can make that fight, then given our past relationship I think it would be relatively easy to make that fight.
“I don’t pay that much attention to fighters who fight on other platforms just because we have so many fights on our platform that I’ve got to live a balanced life. I can’t spend time, when I’m not promoting my fights, watching other fights, or else I wouldn’t have any kind of life.”
On what he believes is the biggest fight for Lopez at 140
“Josh Taylor obviously is the biggest fight for Teofimo at 140, but there are other fights are Jose Ramirez, Zepeda, Arnold Barboza — a lot of really good 140-pounders. I’m sure I’ve left out a number.”