By: Sean Crose
Lightweight kingpin Teofimo Lopez may be quite the self promoter, but he also comes across as being an honest man – which can be odd in this day and age. “I fought Lomachenko hurt,” he admits in a video presented by FightHype. “I had it torn right here in my wrist. I had a complete torn ligament on my right foot, fighting the best fighter in the world during the time. No fans, no audience, quiet as hell. What else can you do against all odds, man? We all go into a fight hurt. I’m going into this fight hurt, too.”
One can only imagine the buzz that these words are going to generate leading up to this Saturday, when Lopez defends his titles against undefeated George Kambosos at the Theater in Madison Square Garden. Lopez, however, appears to be taking it all in stride. “It’s part of the game,” he explains. “It comes with it. That is what separates the greats from being legends.” Lopez clearly sees himself – or at least presents himself – as capable of rising above his peers. “The mindset is different, man, the goal is different, and the vision is a lot different.” Well, then.
Lopez also speaks on the video of the animosity between his camp and Kambosos’ camp leading up to this weekend’s fight. “When I got Covid everybody from that side got upset. And I understand, you can get upset, but don’t disrespect my family. Don’t scream at them saying that they’re all a disease and they have Covid. It’s a pandemic, It’s a crisis. What would have happened if I had died?,” he asks. “What would have happened if I had died and everybody was saying I was faking Covid?” Brash though he may be, Lopez wants to be seen as a positive influence.
In fact, Lopez says he and his team are “just trying to put on a movement, a positive moment. Because we need good role models, not ones that are wearing their own chains.” Asked how he stays motivated, Lopez is ready with a quick response. “Because it never ends,” he says. “That’s the beauty of it. Life goes on, life keeps moving forward, with or without us. Do you stop and let life just take over, or do you go with life? And that’s what I’ve been doing.”
“If I want more, I have to do more,” he says. “I have to do things that ninety-nine percent ain’t willing to do.”