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The WBO president Paco Valcarcel has confirmed that Teofimo Lopez has contacted him and vacated his light welterweight title today as part of his retirement from boxing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Teofimo (19-1, 13 KOs) also holds the Ring Magazine 140-lb belt. He says he told Ring Magazine that he wants to vacate their belt as well, but they said he could hold onto their title for a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Teofimo vacating his WBO belt suggests that he\u2019s serious about his retirement from the sport, but given his quirky, up & down moods, it\u2019s likely he\u2019ll come out of \u2018retirement\u2019 soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hopefully, Teofimo doesn\u2019t insist that he\u2019s the true WBO 140-lb champion to undermine whoever holds the belt and give himself an imaginary title to build false credibility with the boxing public. It\u2019s bad enough that Teofimo gave himself a fake undisputed 140lb championship status last Saturday after his win over the shot-looking WBO champ Josh Taylor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The WBO 140-lb title will now be fought over by the two highest-ranking available contenders from this list: If the WBO can\u2019t get two contenders willing to fight for the vacant 140-lb title, they\u2019ll keep working down their top 15 ranking until they find someone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the vacant WBO light welterweight belt will likely be fought over by #2 Arnold Barboza Jr and #3 Jose Ramirez, as they\u2019re both with Top Rank, and it\u2019s the fastest way for them to battle for a title. Just now @TeofimoLopez is texting me that he relinquished his Jr welterweight title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Teofimo used a confusing scattergun explanation for his retirement, saying that he has too many people he has to fight against with the fighters, judges, and commentators from the networks. It was the rambling of a paranoid-sounding individual who has a bitter & warped outlook on the sport. Although only 25, Teofimo\u2019s caustic view of boxing resembles someone in their 70s. NEWS: Taylor vs. Lopez – Tonight\u2019s Live Boxing Results From New York The victim mentality that Teofimo has is disturbing, as he seems to think the world is against him. As such, his answer is to quit and disappear from the sport. Only he hasn\u2019t done that. He was hanging around during this week\u2019s Errol Spence vs. Terence Crawford press conferences, looking needy & desperate for attention from the media. Teofimo is retiring because he feels he should be getting paid more money and he should be a more giant star along the levels of Gervonta Davis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Top Rank stuck Teofimo in the small room with 5,600 seat capacity at the Hula Theater at Madison Square Garden rather than the big room of 19,000+ for his fight with Josh Taylor because he\u2019s not a big enough draw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By Chris Williams \/ Boxingnews24<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The WBO president Paco Valcarcel has confirmed that Teofimo Lopez has contacted him and vacated…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":11230,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-boxing","category-home","category-live-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n