‘It Wasn’t Me:’ The Teofimo Lopez vs ‘Jr’ Lopez Blame Game Picks Up Steam

Teofimo Lopez (22-2, 13 KOs) has been away from the ring since his loss against Shakur Stevenson (25-0, 11 KOs) in January. As he picks himself back up and ponders his loss, his father, ‘Jr’ Lopez, has found the perfect scapegoat to blame.

In a heated sit-down, both the father-son duo exchanged a few choice words on what went wrong with the Stevenson fight.

“You know how great my son is that you had all these people trying to mess with him mentally for that fight. Everybody,” the older Lopez said. His son, on the other hand, was quick to light the flame without a second thought. “And you helped them.”

Jr agreed that they were both equally responsible for the loss. What went wrong was less that Teofimo lacked the physical tools and more that he completely failed to impose the kind of fight he needed. Stevenson won an extremely wide unanimous decision on fight night, with all three judges scoring it 119–109, and the punch statistics were lopsided. Notably, Stevenson landed 165 punches to Lopez’s 72.

Lopez’s father’s original explanation was basically “my son didn’t execute.” He said the Teofimo who entered the ring wasn’t the fighter they’d prepared. But there’s a much more complicated story now with Jr increasingly blaming Teofimo’s mental state going into the fight, saying the loss was ‘more mental’ than physical. In fact, his argument is that Teofimo let all the external noise into his head. He essentially fought the idea of Stevenson rather than the actual fighter in front of him.

The younger Lopez, however, was not ready to quietly take in any accusation that his father was throwing at him.

“No, sometimes you just got to take it for what it is. This is something that we got to spill out. I got to take responsibility for my actions when I’m wrong,” he said. “But you got to accept it wasn’t me, not this time. Every son wants to make their father proud, am I right? When you got your father in that moment, when you’re bleeding, when they’re allowing Shakur to do all these extra things, and you’re in there and you’ve broken the record for most attendance in Madison Square Garden, you’re this and you’re that, and your trainer is not giving you instructions; they’re just talking you down.”

“You Didn’t Box”

Jr Lopez, however, is not one to stay quiet while his son talks. Cutting him off abruptly, he bluntly blamed his son for losing to Stevenson.

“You didn’t box in that fight,” he said. “I’m not even going to argue with you, because you’re blaming me for it. What did you say after the fight? You didn’t listen to your father; that’s what you said, right? They’re trying to break us, man. And they’re not going to succeed. That’s why I don’t even go on social media no more.”

Joshua Ben Joseph

Joshua Ben Joseph is a Boxing writer renowned for his unparalleled coverage of live events and insightful interviews with prominent athletes in the world of combat sports. With a career spanning over several years, he has authored more than 800 articles. As an experienced editorial cartoonist and investigative journalist, Joshua has a keen eye for detail and a passion for delivering quality content. Aside from his writing, Joshua is an avid powerlifter and solo traveler, embodying the same spirit of determination and exploration that he brings to his work. With a deep love for the sport of boxing that dates back to childhood, he is committed to delivering the highest quality content and helping to build a more transparent and credible industry.

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