WBO 140-pound champion Teofimo Lopez says he is in negotiations to next fight a unification match against IBF light welterweight champion Richardson Hitchins.
Teofimo (21-1, 13 KO) will next move up to 147 and challenge IBF welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis in October on the Ryan Garcia vs. Devin Haney 2 card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. If Lopez is victorious against Ennis, he will face the winner Garcia-Haney 2 in February 2026 in Riyadh.
López-Hitchins unification
Lopez is not saying whether he must win the Hitchins (19-0, 7 KO) unification fight as a condition of facing Boots Ennis in October. However, it is likely that Turki Al-Sheikh will still allow Teofimo to face Ennis in October, even if Richardson beats him because he is OK with fighters going into big fights after defeats.
What could be a problem is that if Teofimo gets blown out by Hitchins in a humiliating defeat, it will taint a fight between him and Boots in October. There is a good chance that Hitchins will dominate Teofimo and make him look worse than George Kambosos Jr, Sandor Martin and Jamaine Ortiz. Will Turki still want to use Teo in October to throw him in the ring with Boots Ennis?
This would amount to rewarding defeat. Lopez looked terrible in his last two fights against seven-loss journeymen Steve Claggett and Jamaine Ortiz. Fans mostly believe that Lopez had a chance to make a decision against Jamaine, and the same goes for his fight against Sandor Martin.
“I’m looking forward to a very productive year.” We have reached a three-fight deal that has not been disclosed yet, but we look forward to announcing it very soon,” Teofimo Lopez told Fight Hub TV about his signing with Turki Al-Sheikh.
“Yeah, that’s what it looks like, yeah,” Teofimo said when told he learned from Turki that he would fight Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis in October, and then be victorious . he will face the winner of the Ryan Garcia vs. Devin Haney 2 fight in February 2026. “Yes, we are looking forward to it. It’s about the best fighting the best, and we’re here to be strong.
“The only thing now is that we win our next fights, that’s all. This is as close as it gets so far,” Lopez said when asked how close he was to making Boots Ennis fight. “At 140, then we move up to 147. We’re talking to (IBF light welterweight champion) Richardson Hitchins at the moment. We will unite. »
I don’t see Lopez’s three-fight deal with Al-Sheikh ending well. Teo will make big money but will likely lose to Richardson next and look like a buddy thrown to a hungry shark in October when he faces IBF welterweight champion Boots Ennis.
Turki predicts the losers of the October card will meet in February in what would be a consolation bout in Riyadh. We’ll likely see Teofimo face Haney, with both of their careers on thin ice.
The road to 147
“So two world title fights (Hitchins and Ennis) lined up and then the prize fight. So we have a good plan,” Teofimo said. “Yes, we (Hitchins and Teo) know each other. Yes, we are looking forward to big things right now. Stay tuned. Very soon,” Lopez said when asked when his fight with Hitchins would take place. That’s all its beauty. We’re doing everything right now. That’s the goal. Do everything and finalize. My legal team does a great job, and that’s it.
Just as Richardson Hitchins dominated IBF 140-pound champion Liam Paro last month, on December 7 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, he will beat Teofimo and expose him as a failed fighter. Lopez has looked over the hill since his loss to Kambosos Jr. in 2021, and he has continued to look bad in repeated performances over the past four years. Teo took a lot of punishment in his win over Vasily Lomachenko in 2020, and it hasn’t been the same since.
