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Teofimio López should soon decide if he wants to maintain his WBO Welter weight title or give it to concentrate on his possible fight in October against the 147-pound champion of IBF Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis on the Riyaded card of Turki al-Sheikh.
OMB deadline
The Ring reports that the World Boxing Organization has ordered Teofimo (21-0, 13 kos) to defend its 140 pound belt against the winner of February 15 between #1 WBO Arnold Barboza Jr. (31-0, 11 Kos) and #2 Jack Catteral (30-1, 13 ko).
Teo must defend his OMB title against the winner of that fight in 180 days, with A deadline of August 14. While López defends his title against the winner of Barboza Jr-Comternall within that time, it seems 100% unrealistic to do it due to the risk of losing.
López, a native of Brooklyn, New York, has been well protected by its promoters in the first range during the last four years since George Kambosos Jr. exhibited it in a defeat by divided decision of 12 rounds in 2021.
Even with the careful pairing, Top Rank has done it for Teofimo, he still needed to be saved from the defeats by the punctuation of the judges in their fights against Sandor Martin and Jamaine Ortiz in 2022 and 2024.
There has been talk of Teo fighting a unification against the welter weight champion of the IBF Light Richardson Hitchins (19-0, 7 kos), possibly in April as part of the three López fighting agreement signed with Turki al-Sheikh.
However, since Teofimo has not mentioned that fight in the interviews, this suggests that it is postponing to take that risky game. Lopez would traditionally avoid That type of fight with each ounce of your being. He is not able to overcome a high level talent like Hitchins, and would look fool trying.
If Turki wants Teofimo to fight against Hitchins, he may have to pay him an exorbitant sum or drag him to the ring kicking and screaming. It is not clear how much Teo would like for a fight against Hitchins, but it would not be surprising if it were an absurd number.
It is a terrible pairing for López and would lead him to a bad start with a unilateral defeat in his three fighting agreement with Turki. It would not be bad for Al-Sheikh if he had an escape clause in his contract with Teofimo to allow him to leave the treatment if he loses immediately in his first fight.
If Hitchins is blank in a unilateral defeat, it would be useless for Turki to fight ‘boots’ Ennis on his October card in Riyadh. Boxing fans would not want to see Teofimo back to a fight with Ennis in the back of a loss and four terrible performances against Steve Clock, Jamaine Ortiz, Sandor Martin and George Kambosos Jr.
