Teofimo Lopez has successfully bounced back from his shocking defeat at the hands of George Kambosos and successfully debuted at 140 lbs. He defeated Mexico’s 34-1-1 Pedro Campa making his US debut in Las Vegas. I predicted a stoppage victory for Lopez and he won by a seventh round TKO while winning a shutout on all three scorecards. Lopez boxed well, taunted and dominated an overmatched fighter. He essentially did what he was expected to but the victory leaves writers and fighters questioning his legitimacy at the new weight class. Mike Coppinger writing for ESPN is hesitant to say he is a threat in the division and wants to wait until December to call it just yet. Lopez has declared he wants to fight in December but the turn around time is unlikely to see him in with a premier name in the division but likely an improvement upon the unknown Campa. The victory has potential rivals at 140lbs. licking their chops and that is evident via Tweets from Regis Prograis and Arnold Barboza Jr to lightweight rivals like Devin Haney.
For my money think Lopez is a serious threat in the division with the potential to further grow into the weight and take on the big names. Currently Josh Taylor is the man to beat at 140lbs. but he is likely to come up in weight while Prograis, Jack Catteral, Barboza Jr, Jose Ramirez and Jose Zepeda all roam as the top guys. Also Gary Antuwan Russell is another danger at the weight as is Sander Martin and some other guys at 135 who could always challenge him like Devin Haney, Ryan Garcia and Tank Davis. Lets also not forget he beat Vasiliy Lomachenko before the Kambosos fight tanked public opinion on his ability. With a bigger opponent on a bigger stage since being humbled I think we will see Lopez back to his best form.
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