Teofimo Lopez won't fight Shakur Stevenson. The two-division champion says he's worried about how Stevenson might react to losing.
Lopez shared his thoughts on the "It Is What It Is" podcast. He brought up a time when Stevenson lost as an amateur back in 2015.
"To be real, I ain't trying to give the man his first loss. I'll let somebody else handle that. I ain't trying to deal with that. I've seen Shakur lose in the amateurs cause we all from that class, and it ain't a good look."
Lopez claimed that after Stevenson lost to Ruben Villa at the National Golden Gloves in Vegas, he had a scary reaction.
"He wanted to go up to the rooftop of the hotel and wanted to jump off. Yeah. I ain't trying to have actual blood on my hands. That Olympics s**t, him tearing up, that ain't nothing."
Fans have been excited about a possible fight between Lopez and Stevenson at 140 pounds. Stevenson moved up to lightweight last year and beat Edwin De Los Santos for the WBC belt, making him a three-weight world champion.
Right now, Stevenson is taking a break. He hurt his hand while training and had to have surgery. The injury forced him to cancel a fight with Joe Cordina in October. He's planning to come back in February 2025 against William Zepeda, who's the number one contender.
Lopez doesn't have a fight set up right now. He's talking about moving up two weight classes to take on Terence Crawford, one of the best pound-for-pound fighters out there.
