INTERVIEW: Teofimo Lopez Talks Upcoming Boxing Match With Shakur Stevenson, Addresses Racial Controversy + More

Hold every day up waiting, click up the Breakfast Club.

You know I'm finish for y'all done morning.

Everybody is DJ n V, Jess hilarious, Charlamagne the guy. We are the Breakfast Club. Long the roses here as well, our brother, I can say.

So you know what that means.

We got a box in the building, Ladies and gentlemen from Brooklyn, New York. He's fighting on the thirty first of January.

He's fighting.

You should call Stevenson too low pez welcome, Yes, how you feeling.

Brother, feeling great, feeling excited, and I'm just pumped for this fight.

It is a dream matchup, you know what I'm saying.

It's a fight that boxing fans, you know, just these are the fights we want to see.

What made you want to fight your core? Right now? How did y'all get it done?

I think it's just fate, you know, it just lined up.

I think that you know, he's been talking a big, big game since the Williams of Pay the fight that happened over here at the Armstrong Stadium. So I think that there's nobody else at one thirty five that he's trying to aim for.

So he wants to come for the top dog and that's me at one forty.

So it just lines up, you know, And I'm always I'm always willing to fight the best, and I feel like.

Why not.

You know, people talk highly of Chakour as they should, and I'm just here.

To do my part.

And you know you mentioned the fight against the Peya. Were you surprised how Shakur Chakour has gotten criticized for moving and being a boxer that isn't that aggressive, which I mean, he's been successful at it. But on a Septa fight he showed the word that he could fight in the pocket like to pay that those are the thousand punches of fight. Were you surprised that you expect that Chicour can fight that type of fight as well.

Man, I look at it, like, I know, we mentioned it, we talked about it. I'd say that it was.

The people get to him. People get to Chokour going quite easily. So I feel like whatever the people want is what they're going to try to get with Shakur.

Oh.

So he said he fought like that to please the people, to prove to the people that he can do it.

Yeah.

Yeah, he didn't need to, Yeah.

Because you can't tell if you court don't want you touch him, you're gonna you see that immaculate you just said, you said that you are you ready to pull an upset?

So you you acknowledging that you cause the better fighters.

Never no, no, no, he said the upset.

We say odds in my head.

No, yeah, it's just the odds. They got him as the favorite OS. I think it's like three to one right now.

That's all.

I'm kind of used to being in that position. I'm just here to reclaim him and redefend him.

So with that upset, like, what do you plan to like exploit about your court and ring?

That is defense is not as impeccable as people mention it.

That's pretty elite. Come on, it's pretty elite.

No.

What is his weakness though? If there's one, his mind.

Once you penetrate the mind, that's it. This game, This is boxing, this has always been since forever. And if your mind ain't strong and this, it's never gonna accomplish anything in life.

And that's why boxing to this day is the toughest sport in the world.

You can't take away from that. And it starts with the mind.

That's why now you're both fighting in the guard, you're fighting in the garden. What does that mean to you? You from Brooklyn, him from Jersey, What does that mean to you?

Now?

Yeah, brick city and concrete jungle. That's how you gotta look at it. It's it's a blessing. I mean for me, I think it's a It's a not only an honor, but it shows where we're at in the pedigree of the sport. You got two prime fighters coming in the best, fighting the best and putting on the show. In New York is nothing like the Mecca and Madison Square Garden. There's so much history there. I've won my titles there.

I've I've been defeated there, won them all back again.

So I got a lot of history when it comes to Madison Square Garden.

Does it get to your head when you hear the odds or you hear somebody like Charlemagne say and his defense is impeccable and say that you underdog. Does that get to your head at all when you see like people going against you so much.

No, it can't be, can't be. It comes with it. I look at it like this.

I was talking to my father about this and what's also my training. I said, if you want to be light, then you know you be light by being a good fighter. You want to be loved, you be the best fighter, but you want to be hated. You be the greatest fighter. And I think that all comes in different atmospheres. And when you're the greatest, not a lot of people are gonna agree with what you're doing and how you do it. So I'm trying to aim for that category, aim for that,

The thing I love about you?

You've you've been very open about like your personal struggles and pressure and mental health. How he's doing that work made you a better man and fighter.

I love it. I love it, I honestly love it.

I think that's like part of the journey is like you learn with struggle, you learn with obstacles, and you also learn within yourself what you can and cannot do.

And then you hit a point.

In your life where you start realizing that there's not much that you cannot achieve, so you push limits far beyond your own measures.

And I love it.

I love it. I love this right here. I love this fight. I love this part where it's.

Going to test my limits. It's a challenge to.

Show people, and I'm here to exploit his defense of Shakur Seemson. I'm here to show that there's a lot of flaws in his style. We don't grown up in the amateurs together and since the early two thousand and tons, so we got a lot of history when it comes to like seeing each other rise to the cream of the crop. But I think that now it comes to where we just meeting them, so we never faced each other.

I have to ask you because I'm so happy that this fight is happening, because at one point this is a ring fight, right, so Turkey els she gets involved. And at one point it was saying that you were on the outch. You said something about Saudi Arabia, you said something about I don't know the religion, correct me if I'm wrong, and supposedly Turkey didn't want to do any business with you. But then in Vegas, I saw you have everybody like kind of mingling so what was said?

It's boxing, there's no beef. It's just boxing. You're gonna talk sometimes, you're gonna talk hit and miss.

I know, But did you regret anything that you said? Because youre outspoken, have you ever regretted anything that you said, like to the public?

Well, one thing you learn in this game. You don't talk about religion. So I don't learn from that.

No, but I'm just saying not learn from it. I don't recall me even mentioning about religion. I think people mix up my words from time to time and that comes with this game.

It's cool. I mean, I'm still captain of my division. I'm holding my belts.

I'm proud to be a ring champion, his champion, so to speak, and at the same time WBO World champion.

So I'm in a great position.

I think that as long as you bring money to the game, they can't exclude you out.

I think it's just true.

How much longer do you how much longer do you plan about? Because I know you've retired before, are you thinking about doing it again?

No? I don't know. I think for me it's really just enjoying it. Just enjoying it. Now, what made you want to do it before? What made you retire before?

What got you to that?

I was trying to do it for the I guess there was an absence there where I wanted people to.

Acknowledge what I'm doing.

These two belts alone at twenty five is so hard to do in box, let alone even go for one. And to do that in two different weight classes against two top pound four pound aiming one was undisputed, the other one was claiming to be undisputed, beating both of them in their prime. And to do that and not really get that kind of imbionzo, that type of vibe from everybody else that they get from others.

And the money you said you wasn't in the money you deserved.

But I always told myself as a kid, it was like, you get all those things when you are number one.

I got them twice, nothing came around, So.

I was like, you want the people to miss you.

So I'm like, you know what, this this ain't gonna really I was like that fire comes, goes down, goes down. So to rebuild it and then did my fighting times square earlier in twenty twenty five. Earlier this year at Times Square, it was great. I feel the fire more than ever got like a blue flame on me.

It worked the retirement, the first retirement. You feel like it worked for what you were trying to accomplish.

Just want to Yeah, I guess you know personally when we talk about this stuff, it's like, you know, you sacrifice the.

Time with your family. I got a young young boy.

I really miss most of his time, like almost three years. He's four now, So through the math, you know what I'm saying, So you miss a lot of that time that you kind of want to feel. At the same time, although it's our industries and our platform, you still want to feel like a human. You still got a life after all this, because you know this better than anybody, right, they'll eat you up and spit you right out, yeah and call into the next one. So I think I just needed that moment.

So where are you emotionally and mentally now like today compared to the version of yourself that like beat a loma chinkle? Where are you now emotionally and mentally.

Still? Yeah, I'm just very still.

I'm not even trying to like argue if people say this, I'm like, go ahead. If people say that, I'm like, do what you do. None of it is gonna matter till we fight. None of it gonna matter to I put in the action and the work. Just keep my faith above it all and just you know, show a different not even a difference, just show me, but in a way of maturity. That's really it.

On paper, do you think your care is your toughest task? I know you got to be in there with him because the old fighters saying, I don't know, but on paper he's absolutely.

Absolutely, absolutely, this is why we do what we do.

You can't go to do what you do and look for easy routes. Eventually you're going to have to meet up with people. So you know, that's why me and my father like right off the jump twenty two, won my first world title MSG boom. The following year Lomachenko undisputed. They revoked that, whatever the case be.

And then just kept on going from there on. You know what I mean.

And it's it's better knowing now than later, you know, because then is lying to yourself.

Tim and Tim Tim Bradley said that he feels like she coll Stevenson can hurt you not not necessarily with power, but by frustrating you, controlling the distance, another flying your office, just making you look bad. He said that he feels like he has has some period boxing IQ compared to you.

That's cool, that's his opinion. That's cool. Everybody has an opinion, like an asshole.

You know, I swear, I wish I could be like I sware. I wish I could be like it's like, say whatever, it's fine.

I'd be like saying what he also said, don't run from chicor yeah yeah.

I mean, hey, I don't put on boxing shoes, not track shoes. So yeah, just I'm excited for it all man, I like to go to the fire.

You know people been talking about was your mental lapses in the ring because you're so skilled, like you've been on the power for poundless, right, especially after you beat Loma Chankle. You showed every facet of your game. But then there's fights, little hiccups like against sandor Martin where people say TiO just wasn't really there, like mentally, it wasn't really him, Like how do you avoid that from happening? And do you hear that noise.

Boxing? Raise me?

I say it like that, and you come to a point in life where you realize some things may not.

Go exactly the way you plan it for that night. That's perfectly fine, because they're just mistakes in the in the lead up to something more.

It only becomes a choice when you continue to make that same mistake. So I've come to terms where it's like those type of quote unquote hiccups were challenging moments for me to see where I could improve.

In my game. There's no such thing as like, oh I know everything, I know how to do it all. I got this in the bag. You don't. If you do, you might as well quit now. And that's you.

Do you still love boxing because you know it's funny. I hear you talk about your son a second ago and you lit up. But then when you talk about boxing, it's just like fucking I'm gonna fight, I'm.

Gonna win, keep it moving. Then I'm gonna go back to my son, you know what I mean. So do you still love it? You still have love for the sport.

I wouldn't be the man I am without.

It, But you still love it now?

Absolutely? I'm just more no one rare chill.

You wanna showing proof through actions and that word.

I ain't gonna win that battle no more.

I'm just gonna do what I gotta do because the real gonna prevail regardless of me.

They show a lot of flaws and fake dudes.

And fake people around the world now, But as long as you keep your thing, keep it thorough, you gonna get yours.

But don't you feel like you're suppressing who you really are? Like you talked about the time Square and everybody was saying to Femo was the one that had that whole promotion lit up, Like on the press conferences, you you had the bravado and all of that. So now it seems like you're saying you're gonna suppress that, you're not gonna be yourself.

I'm still myself, just a different, toned down version of you.

Want to say it that way, I think I just I ain't really been on social right now.

I've just been locked in. Yeah, I just been on I don't know.

I get what I'm saying, because even when you talk about, you know, the things.

You're so funny though, I'm gonna definitely do my thing at the press conference in a little bit, but.

You got to show that to sell the fight because you know you got you got the accolade.

But you know in order to get that money, sadly, you gotta perform a little bit.

I already got the money. Yeah, so it's more so.

You want to fight to do well? Yeah, numbers it will.

I mean, look, I wouldn't.

This is my first time sitting amongst you all at the breakfast Breakfast club, and honestly it's been Uh.

That's what it takes you to your pops, is funny. He back there, like, man, all that's.

We never goes to the South.

So he said, they never lost to the South. Part of two hundred fights more.

A lot of people will look at look not to look over it, but a lot of people look at South posts very They're very difficult. But I grew up with South posts as a kid, kind of understand the rhythms of it. Don't get me wrong.

He could be slick, but there's something I do to South poles that just working. My favorite.

It's called different though, sorry, called a special fighter. Drop man, what are you talking about?

Yes?

Hold on you still.

Like freaking four seconds?

Man, This is a special fight because of both because who we both of you all are but she is a special fighter.

You gotta acknowledge that's what we're fighting there, you go.

So so he does a great especially, but I mean he got he got ahead a couple of times, getting paid that. But he put himself in a position normally like that.

Damn, you.

Became a disputy at a young age, like you acknowledged. When you look at your career, Now, what part of your legacy are you most focused on building?

Next?

The one that's coming. That's it, the one that's coming. All that is in the past, people end up forgetting Just gotta keep it going and and push forward on what else you could do, Like I said before, just trying to claim more history.

Yeah, break numbers. I think we're gonna sell out the garden. We got the big room, you know. I think it's gonna be great.

You called out a lot of big names, obviously, this is a massive fight you called out obviously, but called for at one point Boots, And it's like, so, what's what's ahead? You saying that you're gonna beat your core upset him, like, are you going up the forty seven? Do you still want the big fights?

Like what, I'm trusting my team, I'm gonna trust my team on this one. I'm not gonna do no more than that. You know, that's why you got a team, That's why everybody gets what they get from it. So trust your team, trust the process, and trust the fact that they got big plans for me the first quarter of the year and then moving forward after that. So I'm just I'm excited no matter what. I'm excited that I'm back on the field. I'm back fighting, getting ready.

And just the most underestimated you felt going into a fight or was it this way.

With lom No, no, no, nowhere near closed.

But I just like the fact that I'm just keeping myself more calm and composed. Don't get me wrong, definitely for sure, but I just yeah, I just I ain't trying to do no more of that. I get myself in trouble for no reason, Like I'm being my authentic in trouble. It's like, guess me in trouble. I'm like, so, y'all just don't like I just don't like it. So it's like i'd rather just I'm trying to get deals and stuff like that in the near future.

So I'd rather just keep it like this.

What's the biggest misconception people still have about you?

That I'm crazy? Yeah, I'm not crazy.

It's like, you gotta believe you're the best and the greatest to do what you do and when you do.

It, she's not crazy. It just you was. You were really smart, You're genius.

That sounds a little crazy, really.

It's just that me and I was talking to my father about this though, all right, So I know y'all been hearing about the WBC and Crawford and all that stuff, right, So.

I was thinking about this. You only become undisputed when you pay all the sanctioning fees. So by the fall by him not paying that one sanctioning fee, although he be Canelo Alpharez by the fault, he's not undisputed three times.

No, he's No, he's undisputed. I mean, I mean obviously that.

The public not on paper.

Paper, that doesn't mean anything at this point though, that's what they did.

It to me. I'm gonna do it to him.

And the beauty of it.

People, but people considered you on disputed. A lot of people did consider you unisputed paper look.

Up Wikipedia right now they say unified.

But for Crawford, they got him, and I don't get Look, I can't take nothing away from Crawford, great fighter, one of the best that.

We've seen of this era.

Cool, we give him that, we give him the acknowledgement he beat Canelo, moving up. Yeah, but when you think about it, by the book, yo, that's why it's like, by the book, if you ain't pay that sanctioning fee, by the fault, you didn't become a disputed.

Now that happened like two months we're.

Talking about all right, you're talking about a guy that may like they say, ain't fifty m's right or fifty plus ms.

All you had to pay was a sanctionary fee that we all do, whether it's two three percent, he's saying three hundred and thirty k.

But because you already did it, and now people acknowledging all of it, because what's gonna happen is this and this is what I mean. It's either gonna start two things. Either they set an example on Crawford or it becomes a movement.

And what do we want to do? Right, I could say, oh, I'm a fight for this.

But I'm gonna defend my belts and everything like that. But if I could get away with not paying the sanction.

But he but he did pay fees to the other sanctioned bodies. But his argument was, can you guys agree to the same amount I'm giving all the other sanction of bodies. He wasn't saying he didn't want to pay them anything. He just said, hey, there's a lot of belts a lot of money here. The WBO is accepting X amount, you know, the second right. So he's frustrated, like, why why I have to give you guys more? Now, I'm not throwing a shot at the w C. I

The sense it still take It doesn't take away the fact that you still got to pay that sanctioning fee to become three time undisputed.

I get what you're saying, but the fight is what made him three times undisputed.

I get what you're saying. I guess technically, and he.

Beat Canelo, who was understanding at one sixty eight.

They wouldn't let them take that from you, even though they should acknowledge you as such.

But you did do it.

But why is it not there?

Don't I don't know, got to come together.

You don't think the public opinion is more important than a stat in the history books.

I'm not even in the history books, but I get what he's saying.

He needs to be in the history I give it.

Yeah, you know what I'm saying.

It was on.

ESPN for disputing if Lomo would have won, they would.

Have they would have gave it to Lo.

So so they got some ship with us.

Man, that is some ship because they think we're racist.

Man, it's nothing. It's not that.

In New York.

Man.

But but what about those those comments that people were saying that races and they claim that you send bananas to to Keishawn's room and all that. Look, I know you personally, and I don't know you to be racist at all, right, but do you regret any of those antics? And I know why, I guess I figured why you thought you had to do it.

Scarface.

It's a scarface moment right now when you see you, when you see me, point your finger, point your finger and say, that's the bad guy. I'm the bad guy of boxing.

So that's what it was.

But that's what they want to portray it as because no one else could do something like I do nothing, not the.

Whole part of the fruit.

Certain, but let me let me, let me regroup back on this. Let me regroup back on this.

Though.

When you ask me that question, why is it that way? I could say it's the three gateway I never chose on. I could say that I'm just trying to do something, and and and authentically, I could say that I probably the odds wasn't meant for me to have those flowers to do it, but something much higher caused it for me to do a cause and chain of reaction I still don't know.

But the one thing I'm not going.

To do is is allow something that that.

Is not, that's not powerful more than I am, to dictate where I should be and how I should move my life.

So because it's working, if if if it's still working, it ain't broke, don't fix it right, and I'm maintained on that. I think certain things in this world tend to lead on. Let's just fixate it on that, right. But let's I can know how to make you a celebrity overnight, but I ain't choose that. I just want to be the best at what I do, and some people may not like that. So yeah, there's ways to scratch it off, rewrite it. They don't done it with the Bible and many other things, So what am I

So what did you mean when you when you said when you're talking about tanking Bud, you said, whichever monkey wants the banana?

Yeah, because it's like I'm trying to get fights.

And it's been leading. It's been it's been led up for a long time, you know what I'm saying. It's been let up for a long time. So I tried different ways in different avenues, had contracts thrown and all that and never happen, and nothing ever happened. So I was like, yo, you know what I used to grow up watching young.

Other fighters forties fifties.

I'm talking nineteen forties fifties where they used to go at each other like this, and then what about Yeah.

I typed to say, I'm gonna eat your.

Kids and all this. Right, you know what I'm saying? Do you love me? Right?

So what happened to I just grew up from that hardcoreness. That's how I looked at it, you know what I mean? And that's what I love the most. Why I wanted to put on a pair of boxing gloves was because it was hardcore.

It was rugged, you know, it wasn't none of this different. And that's where I had to adjust.

And I was like, Okay, cool, I get where everybody coming from, but don't put me and portray me like that, because I'm just coming from what I grew up on. The not the baiting, but just the fact like I'm gonna just get you under your skin till we just lace it up and then really make a full pack action fighting.

But why not stand on it? Even with the Keshan Davids.

Like I said, it was an anonymous package of watermelons and bananas.

Then why not stand on it and be like, how.

You mean like that?

Say that you sent it because I didn't.

We didn't do that.

No, No, I know you said on our show that you didn't do it. But if people were assuming that you did, and you putting the video on. To Charlemagne's point, why not say I let them believe that I did it, because.

It's just like promote the fight that you just said that.

All right, So basically it's like this.

You you you put a lie out there in front of everybody's face.

Let people talk about you.

Now, I just took away from his action of his fight leading up to a world title.

Now it's on me whether it's good.

There's no such thing as good or bad publicity unless you hit a woman or you call some murder or something like that to the point where you got to, you know, a monk shot. But other than that, it shouldn't lead to that case scenario.

So I just I went with it.

But when it came to ACN Barack and I got on they show, I literally set it out like it is, I ain't.

Doing none of that, you know, because you really didn't exactly.

But when they label you that, then they want to keep it going.

Like they said, you use the N word on Instagram Live, but you said you didn't.

No, I didn't.

So I'd rather just you know, like, hey, if that's something the only way that they could get me out, then I'm winning. If that is the only way you could find ways to get me out, because you can't.

Do it in the ring, I'm winning life. I'm winning. I'm winning big time. And and I'd rather just keep it like that. I don't. I don't come in here with a full squad. I'm not. I'm not like that. I think it takes a real man to.

Go and do his things in a in a mafia mafioso world and still hold it down to the t and just be like I'm gonna do what I do and.

Ain't nobody gonna stop me.

Okay, what about this when it's the last one when you was frustrated with top rank, what's up? And you said, if they want the black fighters, they can keep them.

Would that mean didn't have their select.

I look at it like, yeah, I just want to start some chaos. You start some chaos, let it be known, conflict. What it's all?

What is everything in life in this world and politics and all that. It starts with what conflict with chaos conflict.

I've saw articles about you where you've said, or they've implied that you feel like they always choose the black fighters over you. Is that where that comes from?

No?

No, no, because if we really want to take it there, then look at Mayweather.

With Oscar de Laoya when they were signed with Top Rank.

Oscar was getting more of the fruit of the barrier and Floyd felt like he wasn't getting his fast share, to the point where he finally left with them. He had to pay seven hundred and fifty K to leave Top Rank and then they ended up fighting each other, right, or what about when we talk about Bernard Hoghs and Felix Trinidad and Bernard Hopkins throws the Puerto Rican flag and he got mobbed by the Puerto Ricans. So if it's gonna be it's gonna be a double standard, then

I don't have that.

I guess so called agency that's behind me to support me and find ways to move around it. I'm learning on the job. I'm learning as I go. I'm twenty eight, so I got God willingly. I still got time to learn from it. And that's why I've been more on an easy edge. I ain't trying to deal with it no more. I'm just gonna look how I do it. Be Whoever they put in front of me win impressively. Thank the universe for it all.

Keep it moving.

What have you lost outside of you know, not being listed as undisputed? But what have you lost behind the scenes that keeps you on that easy edge? It seems like you stepping real carefully now, Like, where does that come from?

I think it's just h you got to plan out your years.

Feel me, I don't win broke already like twice, I ain't trying to deal that no more.

Feel me.

Eventually people gonna blackmail you and do all this extra stuff, and that's cool.

You learn with it.

But knowing that you got a family, knowing you got all these things, you can't just go on for the work field thinking that it's always going to be there.

You mean by field, just work field first January for it.

You can, Yeah, you can swell.

Aout.

No, I do one more question for him when when you're in the ring and you see you know, when you when you see your opponents right what lets them know? What lets you know that they're like mentally broken, not just physically but mentally, Like, okay, I got them mentally.

I guess it's my my stance. Right away, they feel that area, they feel that energy right away. I see their eyes is different. You can see a lot in the person with their eyes. So I always look at the eyes. So I don't know, Maybe it's just what. I don't know how hard I do punch, But when I punch them, ship changes right, changes quick. So yeah, you know, I think that's really it. Yeah, man, why why you got one of them shakers?

Man?

Not even jerking and ship?

Since he gave.

Us a Christmas does he wants you to ask the.

Thirty first good luck?

You should call Stevenson after guard and get your tickets if you haven't got him all ready.

And it's the Breakfast Club. Good morning.

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