Whether or not your inclined to believe him, Teofimo Lopez is publicly saying he’s retiring from boxing, and made an announcement of this while appearing on Max on Boxing to discuss his win over Josh Taylor to earn a junior welterweight title.
Lopez had sort of teased he that he might retire in the immediate aftermath of his win over Taylor over the weekend, and is now taking it further to make this announcement to the world.
“I’m going to be announcing my retirement to the sport of boxing,” Lopez said to lead off the televised segment. “Blood, sweat and tears I’ve done for the sport at a young age, at 25 years young. And I believe the first male to become two-time undisputed champion in a four belt era.”
Kellerman would then point out the obvious, that many won’t believe this as a legitimate retirement announcement
“Right now I’m just thinking about — I have a lot of ideas,” Lopez said. “I have a lot of things in mind for the sport of boxing and I really can’t do that if I’m always in the gym, training, preparing for another upcoming fight or bout. So I’m really now just focusing on that task.”
As Kellerman continued to press Lopez on the idea of this retirement, he asked if someone like Devin Haney doesn’t motivate him to keep fighting.
“No, because it’s just copy and paste,” Lopez would say. “I mean, I’m the first youngest four-belt era champion at 23 years young, they copy and paste it and put it onto Haney…I don’t know, man. It doesn’t get me going.”