I guess the Ryan vs Tank and the recent Haney vs Loma was the two of the most anticipating match May that's why we totally overlook this one. But I do agree, Teo still has nothing to proved in this weight category but he is lucky that he will have a chance that both of them are under Top Rank and he was given this opportunity although I was not sure if he is going to extend his contact with Top Rank though.
But just like the rest of us, I think Taylor will be too much for Lopez in this fight. Taylor is the undisputed at this division, it's that he just have to give up some of his belt and chooses to retain one and he is going to defend it against Lopez.
I always remember that Lopez is one of the fighters that beat Lomachenko although Loma was injured when he fought Lopez, still, Lopez has gone through the fire, the only problem is his father who is not a good trainer he is more of a cheerleader than a trainer.
Lopez is a clear underdog here but that doesn't mean that he has a chance to win against Taylor, he is a quick hard puncher but very impulsive he had a hard time pacing himself he is always very eager to knock out his opponent.
His last fight against Sandor is quite disappointing and this is one of the reasons why he is the underdog but then again a very healthy and motivated Lopez can surprise us all.
On paper, it should be the Canelo-Ryder and Loma-Haney as the most anticipated fights this month since they were for the undisputed belts but the sport is a business and fights are usually made not to cater to its hardcore fans but to bring the casuals and even those that have no idea to little know-how about the sport. So it was Davis-Garcia that became the most anticipated fight this month bringing 1.2 million PPV buys. It was reported that Loma-Haney PPV buys were only around 150k which is very very bad and it might also mean that ESPN and probably Top Rank too are losing money with these numbers.
I expect this fight to catch up and make some noise next week or during the fight week. I also felt that Loma-Haney was not promoted well as I hardly see them prior to its fight week although it did well during the fight week. Attendance for the Loma-Haney bout of 14k was beyond my expectations and there were a lot of celebrities including fighters from rival promotions and networks which is unbelievable knowing how boring Haney fights. Although they might have flocked because it was for the undisputed belts and for Loma. PPV numbers though failed and Taylor-Lopez might do better especially if Lopez can fire back at Taylor's trash-talking. I expect Taylor, another arrogant fighter to try to bully Lopez during the coming face-offs.
The odds favored Taylor a lot. Probably because Teofimo's biggest win was only against an injured Loma and he was gifted a win in his last fight. Although Taylor himself had a very bad performance against Catterall in his last fight and he is already inactive for more than a year which might be enough for Lopez to capitalize. Taylor is also being vocal about the latest controversies in boxing in the US lately where all of them favored the home fighters. Teofimo's controversial decision win over Martin, Romero's surprise stoppage win over Barroso, and last week's Haney victory over the dominating Loma. Taylor wanted zero American judges in his fight with Teofimo Lopez and hopefully, it will be granted. They can take Japanese, Koreans, or other nationalities that are neutral.