‘I could kill a guy and get away with it’: Teofimo Lopez and his concerning path through boxing
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The world champion, still just 26, has courted controversy with claims that he wants to ‘kill’ opponents. But that’s not all, writes Alex Pattle... All that was visible of Teofimo Lopez was his left sleeve, the white of his jumper beaming in the dark. The orange flash of a street lamp splashed through the car, where the boxer reclined in the backseat. He leaned forward, easing his body out of the shadows. His face, however, remained obscured by the rear-view mirror. “One thing I love about my sport: I could kill a guy and get away with it.”.
![[Lopez and George Kambosos Jr after their title fight in 2021]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2023/06/05/10/GettyImages-1356019152.jpg)
“No, you can’t edit that,” came the call from the backseat, street lamps now strobing against the shadows. “Don’t edit that.”. It was on 17 October 2020 that Teofimo Lopez became a unified world champion. In the depths of lockdown, in a hollow hall inside MGM Grand Arena, in front of a lean crew of nameless masks, the American launched an oppressive offensive against Vasiliy Lomachenko. That offence was in fact suppressed as the fight wore on, but at the end of 12 rounds – having thrown 659 punches to the Ukrainian’s 321, and having just survived a foreboding comeback – Lopez would leave Las Vegas with Lomachenko’s titles, adding them to the one he had brought with him.
![[Lopez won a controversial decision against Sandor Martin in December 2022]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2023/06/01/16/GettyImages-1448260450.jpg)
The result, a unanimous decision, surprised many. It surprised those who had predicted a customary win for a generational great; it surprised those who had witnessed Lomachenko fight back from the brink to threaten Lopez’s early lead. It did not, however, surprise either Teofimo Lopez in the building. The Brooklyn-born, 26-year-old Lopez – 23 at the time – had never doubted the outcome. Nor had his father. The pair have long walked a thin, fragile line between confidence and delusion, but Lopez Jr had never been beaten and they could not entertain the notion that any fighter would change that fact; not even Lomachenko.
![[Lopez during his decision win over Josh Taylor at Madison Square Garden’s Theater]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2023/06/16/14/newFile-4.jpg)
