Arnold Barboza Jr. wins a mandatory challenge for the title of the TEOFimo López OMB

Arnold Barboza Jr. (32-0, 11 kos) is now the mandatory challenger for the WBO Light Teofimo López welter champion after his victory in the divided decision of 12 rounds over Jack Catterall (30-2, 13 kos ) On Saturday night in Manchester. Barboza Jr manager says that Teofimo needs to fight him on the island of Alcatraz next June or July.

(Credit: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing)

Alcatraz calls

That would be an interesting fight for the former Alcatraz prison. It would be a disaster potentially to lose to Barboza Jr. on that island, and be put in a position in which his three fighting contract with Turki al-Sheikh would be all losses. If you are Turki, hopefully, he put an escape clause in his contract to be able to throw Teofimo if he loses the fight of Alcatraz.

Barboza Jr. would give Teofimo similar problems to those that Jamaine Ortiz did last year on February 8. The difference is that Barboza Jr. will not run out of gas. If Teo would like to fight with Barboza, he would have already done it because he has been his contender #1 for years and has been calling it. Teofimo will not fight with him and knows that this guy would probably continue where George Kambosos Jr. left him.

Interestingly, many boxing fans feel that this would be an easy victory for Teofimo over Barboza, which suggests that they are not familiar with Arnold. If you saw the fight tonight and his previous one against José Ramírez, you will know that it is a nightmare for Teo. That is what Brooklyn’s native, New York, doesn’t want to see anything with him.

Teofimo still does not have an opponent for his next fight, but he had talked about him fighting a unification match against the IBF champion Richardson Hitchins below. However, Hitchins promoter Eddie Hearn says there have been no deep conversations for that fight.

Catterall gave him a good attempt, but lost by the scores:

115-113-Barboza Jr.
115-113-Catterall
115-113-Barboza Jr.

“We will continue working and training harder than ever. I will be ready for the next one, ”said Arnold Barboza Jr. in the Press conference after the fight Tonight after his victory over Jack Catterall at the Live Arena cooperative in Manchester, England.