Ryan Garcia Calls Out Teofimo Lopez’s Lies About a Rejected Golden Boy Fight

Ryan Garcia exposed Teofimo Lopez as full of “cap” today, outing him over his post on X, saying that Oscar De La Hoya and his management team had turned the fight down when he told them that he wanted to fight Kingry next. Garcia says that it is a bold-faced lie.

Is Teofimo Afraid of Ryan?

Ryan (24-2, 20 KOs) does want to fight Lopez next, and it doesn’t look like he’s giving up on this. So, if Lopez doesn’t want to face him next, he should just come clean and say he doesn’t want to. His choices are limited.

It’s either Teo fight Ryan in what would likely be a career-high payday or face Shakur Stevenson for smaller money, and potentially get the William Zepeda treatment by the judges. It’s a no-brainer if you’re Teofimo on which of the two fights to take unless he’s afraid of Garcia’s powerful left hook. That’s the weapon that brought Devin Haney down to earth, dropping him three times last year.

Why would Teofimo come up with a story about Ryan Garcia’s management turning it down when it was something so easily verifiable? It’s not as if Teo could just come up with this without Ryan calling him on it. Of course, if Golden Boy is pulling the wool over Ryan’s eyes by not telling him that they’d turned down the Lopez fight. It’s doubtful they would do this because they would know that Teofimo would immediately blab about it on X.

The Risk of a Knockout

For Teofimo to say Golden Boy rejected the fight, it suggests that he doesn’t feel confident about fighting Garcia. It is a riskier fight for him than going up against the weak-punching Shakur. The only thing he’d have to fear fighting Stevenson is being jabbed. It’s a different story against Ryan. He’s got the power to knock out Teo and mess up his career.