Teofimo Lopez Teases September Return, Open to Manny Pacquiao Fight

After suffering his first professional loss as a boxer, Teofimo Lopez bounced back with five impressive wins on the trot. And now, after his last win over Steve Claggett, Lopez is on the hunt for his next opponent. While Tank, Stevenson, and Haney are a few options that fans want the boxer to face, he has bigger ambitions against a legend of the sport.

‘The Takeover’ was in attendance the past week at the Jorge Masvidal vs Nate Diaz event.

While leaving the event backstage, he stopped for an interview with ‘ESNEWS’, where Lopez talked about what was next for him and said that his team was putting together another fight in September but nothing’s been finalized yet. He further spoke of sobriety and wanting to be a three-division champ in his 20s.

“Right now I am in the gym, I am still training and staying sober. To be honest, I would rather go up in weight and be a three division world champion at 27. I know they mentioning Manny Pacquiao, so we’ll see.”

 

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Lopez had a huge fight in 2023 against Josh Taylor. The 26-year-old put on a show and secured a unanimous decision to win the WBO and The Ring light welterweight titles.

Following that win, WBO champ took a much needed break from the sport. However, he is back and looking to fight multiple times this year.

‘The Takeover’ has already fought twice so far this season and will be aiming to make it a third in September. However, his plan hinges on Pacquiao’s performance against Mario Barrios.

Lopez to take on the winner of Pacquiao vs Barrios?

Boxing legend Manny Pacquiao stepped away from the sport of boxing in 2021 following his loss against Yordenis Ugas for the WBA welterweight title.

Since then, he has had only one exhibition match to his name. However, it appears as though the former world champion is interested in making a comeback at the age of 45.

 

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In his penultimate fight, at the age of forty, Pacquiao had defeated Keith Thurman to win the WBA welterweight belt, demonstrating his competitiveness all the way to the end of his professional career.

Therefore, WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman is likely to be open to the idea of him fighting Barrios as 147-pound champion Terrance Crawford is currently preparing for a move up to 154 pounds.

Meanwhile, Lopez is willing to take on ‘Pac Man’ if he is able to get past Barrios.