Notebook: Coming off title loss, Teofimo Lopez comeback planned for Aug. 13

Charlo suffers back injury, Sulecki fight postponed; Quick hits; Show and tell

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Former unified lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez will return to action to headline a Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card on Aug. 13, manager David McWater told Fight Freaks Unite.

As expected, Lopez will move up to junior welterweight for the bout, which is likely to take place in South Florida, where New York native Lopez grew up and asked Top Rank to look at as a site, McWater said.

Lopez’s opponent is likely to be Pedro Campa, but McWater said the deal is not done yet.

“We were given an option of three opponents by Top Rank and we have not chosen one but Campa is the favorite,” McWater said. “(Top Rank matchmaker Brad) Goodman likes him, I like him. But there is no contract signed or anything. It’s probable.”

McWater said one of the other names he was given as a possible opponent was Sandor Martin (40-2, 13 KOs), a Spanish southpaw, who in October notched a massive upset via majority decision over former four-division titlist Mikey Garcia in October.

Lopez (16-1, 12 KOs), 24, will be fighting for the first time since losing his unified 135-pound belts to mandatory challenger George Kambosos Jr. by split decision on Nov. 27 at the Hulu Theater in New York. Kambosos knocked Lopez down in the first round and survived a knockdown in the 10th round in the action-packed fight of the year candidate and a massive upset.

Even before the loss, Lopez was likely to move up to 140 pounds and now he definitely will, McWater said.

“We haven’t gotten that far to set the exact weight, but it will probably 140. We’d like to try to get it as an eliminator,” McWater said. “We want it to have some meaning. That would be my hope but the exact weight is nothing that’s been agreed on.”

Lopez had arthroscopic surgery on his wrist and elbow earlier this year and has also had treatment for the asthma condition he has boxed his whole career with.

“He’s taken care of the injuries and he seems like he’s in a good place now,” McWater said. “He’s very focused. He wants to make a good showing. I think we will see the old Teofimo.”

Lopez, who represented his parents’ home country of Honduras in the 2016 Olympics, won a lightweight title by second-round knockout of Richard Commey in December 2019. He returned in October 2020 inside Top Rank’s bubble at the conference center of the MGM Grand in Las Vegas without fans due to the coronavirus pandemic and outpointed three-division champion Vasiliy Lomachenko in a major upset to unify three major titles.

Campa (33-1-1, 22 KOs), 30, of Mexico, has won three fights in a row and is 6-0-1 since a seventh-round knockout loss to journeyman Carlos Jimenez in 2017. Lopez would be a major step up in opposition.

Charlo-Sulecki postponed

WBC middleweight titlist Jermall Charlo has suffered a back injury in training, forcing his defense against Maciej Sulecki to be postponed, Premier Boxing Champions and Showtime announced on Monday.

Charlo’s fifth title defense was scheduled to headline a Showtime card on June 18 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Charlo’s hometown. Charlo was due to fight on the Juneteenth holiday for the second year in a row in Houston. He has not fought since last June’s defense, a tougher-than-expected unanimous decision over Juan Macias Montiel, also at the Toyota Center.

“The card will be rescheduled to a new date that will be announced pending an assessment of when Charlo can return to training,” according to the announcement.

Charlo (32-0, 22 KOs), 32, hurt his back while running and the postponement is expected to be a matter of weeks not months, a source with knowledge of the situation told Fight Freaks Unite.

Sulecki (30-2, 11 KOs), 33, of Poland, has won two fights in a row since losing his previous title opportunity, a shutout decision to WBO middleweight titlist Demetrius Andrade in June 2019.

Also postponed were the two other bouts, both 10-rounders, slated for the Showtime broadcast:

• Junior featherweight contender Ra’eese Aleem (19-0, 12 KOs), 31, of Las Vegas, against Mike Plania (26-1, 13 KOs), 25, of the Philippines.

• Lightweight up-and-comer Frank Martin (15-0, 11 KOs), 27, of Indianapolis, against former world title challenger Ricardo Nunez (23-3, 21 KOs), 28, of Panama.

Quick hits

When welterweight contender Vergil Ortiz Jr. (18-0, 18 KOs), 24, fights Aug. 6 (DAZN), probably in his home region of Dallas, he won’t face David Avanesyan (29-3-1, 17 KOs), 33, a Russia native based in England, in a WBC final eliminator as was being planned, Ortiz manager Rick Mirigian said. “Looks like Avanesyan and his team are running away as Vergil was given three opponents and didn't hesitate to take the toughest one weeks ago,” Mirigian said. “This guy has been calling Vergil out, saying he can’t avoid him, begging for this shot and talking shit online, and then has sat on a contract for two weeks. Golden Boy did everything they wanted, accommodated their every crazy need they asked for and Vergil even kicked in some money to help make the fight. They agreed to the deal and then never would send the actual contract back.” Mirigian told Fight Freaks Unite that Ortiz likely will face British southpaw Michael McKinson (22-0, 2 KOs). They were slated to fight March 19, but Ortiz withdrew due to illness and McKinson, 28, easily outpointed replacement Alex Martin.

Show and tell

Miguel Cotto, who will be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame on Sunday, had won world titles at junior welterweight, welterweight and junior middleweight when he moved up to middleweight in an effort to become the first Puerto Rican male boxer to win world titles in four divisions. He challenged middleweight champion Sergio Martinez and packed New York’s Madison Square Garden with 21,000 strong — I was ringside to cover it — on the eve of the annual Puerto Rican Day parade in New York, a date that had become Cotto’s.

Cotto took charge right away and scored three knockdowns in the first round against Martinez, who was compromised by a bum right knee on which he had had two surgeries. Cotto toyed with Martinez and dropped him again in the ninth round. Cotto was ahead 90-77 on all three scorecards when Pablo Sarmiento, Martinez’s trainer, stopped the HBO PPV fight with Martinez on his stool six seconds into the 10th round. Cotto improved to 8-1 at the Garden and made history by winning the middleweight championship and sending Martinez into a six-year retirement before he returned in 2020. The fight was on June 7, 2014 — eight years ago on Tuesday. Here is a poster from the fight in my collection.

Lopez photo: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom Boxing; Charlo photo: Esther Lin/Showtime

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