Teofimo Lopez on Vasiliy Lomachenko: 'I don’t leave it to the judges'

Consider it the first leg in the promotion of an intriguing lightweight bout.

Newly crowned 135-pound titleholder Teofimo Lopez appeared on ESPN’s SportCenter to talk about his projected unification bout with Vasiliy Lomachenko this year. Lopez noted that the fight is not yet a done deal.

“We’re still negotiating right now,” Lopez said. “We’re still negotiating on where the location is going to be. Hopefully we’ll get that sorted out so that we can make that type of fight happen, especially this year. New decade, new year, I think we start it off with a bang.”

Lopez (15-0, 12 KOs) is coming off a career-best win over Richard Commey, whom he knocked out inside two rounds on the Terence Crawford-Egidijus Kavaliauskas card Dec. 14 at Madison Square Garden. Lopez, who was born to Honduran parents in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, would like to see the Lomachenko fight land in New York. Promoter Bob Arum recently stated that in addition to MSG, he has had competing offers from Barclays Center and Saudi Arabia to stage the fight.

“New York, the Garden, is always my home,” Lopez said. “But to me anywhere. I think fight fans will enjoy it anywhere no matter where it is.” 

Indeed, more than simply a fight to settle the best at 135, Lomachenko-Lopez figures to be equally satisfying from an entertainment standpoint, pairing the come-forward dexterity of Boxing Junkie’s No. 1 fighter pound-for-pound and Lopez’s explosiveness. Lopez believes his style will be responsible for providing most of the fun. 

“My thing is I don’t leave it to the judges,” Lopez said. “I don’t try to look pretty while doing it . I go in there and look to take out my opponent.”