Teofimo Lopez says he wants to fight the winner of the April 12th fight between Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis and Eimantas Stanionis or Terence Crawford next if he wins his May 2nd bout against Arnold  Barboza Jr. Lopez says he would fight Crawford for “free.” That sounds like desperation.

WBO light welterweight champion Lopez (21-1, 13 KOs) is already in the pipeline for a fight against IBF welterweight champ ‘Boots’ Ennis, but he still hasn’t given up on his dreams of the mega-fight against Crawford. That matchup would bring in much more money for Teo than challenging ‘Boots’ Ennis for his IBF or WBA belts.

Barboza Threat

Teofimo can’t afford to look beyond his title defense against WBO mandatory Barboza Jr. (32-0, 11 KOs) on the May 2nd Times Square ‘Fatal Fury’ event in New York City. If Teo loses that fight, it’s questionable whether Turki Alalshikh will still want to use him as an opponent for ‘Boots’ Ennis to defend against in October.

It would look bad if Lopez backs into that fight off of an embarrassing loss to Barboza. It would be better for Turki to use the red-hot Barboza Jr. as the opponent for Boots. It would be interesting to know if Turki has an escape clause on his three-fight contract with Lopez that allows him to cast him adrift if he gets wiped out by Barboza Jr.

In other words, a failsafe in case Teofimo goes to pieces in this fight. If he were more popular, he could absorb a loss to Arnold without it being a big deal, but his stock has dropped since 2020. Hence, Teo’s fight with Barboza Jr. is buried on the bottom of the May 2nd undercard rather than headlining.

“Free” Fight Goal

“I’ve said publicly, I’ll fight him for free. If I can’t get the guy, I just want to be in the ring with him,” said Teofimo Lopez to Ring Magazine about wanting to fight Terence Crawford after his May 2nd title defense against Arnold Barboza Jr.

“I would like Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis in the near future. [I want to] fight the winner of Boots and Stanionis. So, that would be great. I’m just aiming for excellence.”