Arnold Barboza Jr. says he will make WBO light welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez (21-1, 13 KOs) regret that he didn’t fight him years ago when he challenges him for his belt on May 2nd in their battle on Times Square in New York City.
Years of Waiting
Barboza Jr. (32-0, 11 KOs) is still annoyed that it’s taken him so long to get the chance to challenge Teofimo for his WBO belt because he’s been ranked high with the sanctioning body for ages. Lopez ignored his callouts, and chose to fight easier opposition. Top Rank picked Teofimo’s opposition, so they’re partly to blame.
“I knew he didn’t want to fight me for a reason. He was fighting guys like Campa and Claggett, guys not on my level. Right now, he’s fighting me at the worst possible time he could. He should have fought me back then,” said Arnold Barboza Jr. to Ring Magazine about how Teofimo Lopez avoided him for the last three years since 2022.
Teofimo said yesterday that he wasn’t avoiding Barboza Jr. all the years. He said he was being offered bigger fights against Josh Taylor, George Kambosos Jr, and Vasily Lomachenko. However, that doesn’t explain why Lopez chose to fight these guys instead of Barboza Jr:
– Steve Claggett
– Jamaine Ortiz
– Sandor Martin
– Pedro Campa
Underdog Mentality
“Our train is not stopping. We fought two of the top guys [Jack Catterall and Jose Ramirez] in the last three, four, and five months. It’s about to be the third in the last seven months. I’m like an old school throwback fighter now.
“I fight to the level of my opponent. Teo is supposed to be one of the best. People are doubting me. That’s okay. I went to Saudi as the underdog, I went to the UK as an underdog and I’m coming to New York as an underdog. A lot of people are making a lot of money off of me,” said Barboza Jr.
Fans are doubting Barboza Jr. because he’s not as well known as Teofimo. Due to his fighting style, he’s been a headliner fight, but many people haven’t had the chance to see him.
Barboza’s fight against Jack Catterall on February 15th was the first time in his twelve-year professional career that he’s been in the main event. All of Barboza Jr’s other fights have been buried on undercards, which has kept fans from seeing him. Most casual boxing fans focus only on headliners.
Top Rank has done a good job of turning Teo into a minor star. He’d have been a lot more popular than hie is now if he’d stayed busy, hadn’t lost to Kambosos, and been more open to taking risky fights against fighters like Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney, Shakur Stevenson and Keyshawn Davis.
Last Updated on 03/05/2025
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