Notebook: Lopez on comeback: 'I am coming to regain what I’ve lost'
Former lightweight king geared up for return in new division; Also: Cobbs, Hooker face must-win fight; Joyce-Parker to be announced; Quick hits; Show and tell
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Former unified lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez is less than two weeks away from his ring return and he has high expectations for himself.
“‘The Takeover’ is back,” Lopez said after a recent training session at his camp in Ringoes, New Jersey. “I took over the lightweight division, and I plan on doing the same at junior welterweight.”
Lopez will be moving up to the 140-pound division to face Pedro Campa in the main event of a Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card on Aug. 13 (ESPN, ESPN Deportes, ESPN+, 10 p.m. ET) at Resorts World Las Vegas.
“I had been fighting at lightweight since I was a teenager, and it was time to move up,” Lopez said. “I am going to be an even better, more explosive fighter. You will see that on Aug. 13.”
Brooklyn, New York, native Lopez (16-1, 12 KOs), 25, will be fighting for the first time since Nov. 27 in New York, where he lost a split decision and his unified 135-pound belts to Australian mandatory challenger George Kambosos Jr. in a massive upset.
Kambosos dropped Lopez in the first round and although Lopez knocked Kambosos down in the 10th round of a bona fight of the year contender, the prevailing view was that Kambosos clearly deserved the decision he received.
Lopez was hospitalized after the fight due to a torn esophagus and had arthroscopic surgery on his wrist and elbow earlier this year, as well as treatment for the asthma condition he has boxed his whole career with.
Lopez has pronounced himself healthy and motivated to box again.
“Pedro Campa is a tough opponent with an aggressive Mexican style, and I can’t wait to put on a show for the fans,” Lopez said. “Every person goes through challenges, but I’ve put the past behind me and am thrilled to be back fighting on ESPN and in Las Vegas. I am calling this fight the ‘Take Back’ because I am coming to regain what I’ve lost. One defeat does not define a fighter, and it won’t define me.”
Campa (34-1-1, 22 KOs), 30, of Mexico, has won four fights in a row and is 7-0-1 since a seventh-round knockout loss to journeyman Carlos Jimenez in 2017, but he is taking a big step up in competition.
As far as Lopez is concerned the fight with Campa is the start of his path to a title in second weight class.
“I am only 25 years old. My best years are in front of me,” Lopez said. “Pedro Campa is the start of a new chapter in my career. I will be a two-weight world champion very soon. Every contender and champion at junior welterweight better watch out because I am coming to clean out the division.”
Cobbs, Hooker need a win
Welterweights Blair “The Flair” Cobbs and Maurice Hooker, a former junior welterweight world titlist, are both coming off knockout losses, making their 10-rounder pivotal for their careers when they meet on the undercard of the Vergil Ortiz Jr.-Michael McKinson event on Saturday (DAZN, 9 ET p.m.) at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.
Cobbs (15-1-1, 10 KOs), a 32-year-old southpaw based in Las Vegas, got knocked out by Alexis Rocha in the ninth round on March 19.
“It was hard. I didn't like the stoppage, as people could see I was still fighting back, but it doesn't matter now,” Cobbs said. “I must win this fight. The result is the result, and now I must earn my spot back. I know I have a new mindset, and I am ready to fight my heart out.
“This was a very humbling camp. I had to think about things from different perspectives and come up with new ways to get great results. My last fight didn’t go how I wanted, but I’m ready to get back on top.”
Hooker (27-2-3, 18 KOs), 32, of Dallas, is 1-2 in his last three fights and coming off a seventh-round knockout to Ortiz in March 2021, also at Dickies Arena. The other loss was a sixth-round knockout to Jose Ramirez in a title unification bout in 2019. Still, Cobbs knows he is not to be taken lightly.
“Hooker is a tougher opponent then Alexis,” Cobbs said. “A win in this fight puts me in the top 10 rankings. The Rocha fight passed. I’m already on to bigger and better fights.”
A Cobbs win could position him to face Ortiz if he beats big underdog McKinson.
Cobbs said he “has looked at Vergil Ortiz as a future opponent for a long-time, so after I have another spectacular performance, it will only be a matter of time before I face Vergil Ortiz, who I think will win this fight. I think the fans will embrace it, and I want it as well.”
Hooker, who will be fighting in front of his hometown fans, likely would not get a rematch with Ortiz if they both win but that doesn’t make the need for victory any less important.
“I’m going to do the same thing that you saw last fight. I’m coming to fight and I’m not cowering down to anybody,” Hooker said. “Since my last fight, I’ve stayed in camp, stayed training, so that I could be ready for anything to come my way. I expect a big crowd and everyone to be there for me.”
Quick hits
Queensberry Promotions’ Frank Warren has a news conference set for Thursday in London, where he said he will announce heavyweight contender Joe Joyce’s next fight. Joyce (14-0, 13 KOs), 36, of England, will face former heavyweight titlist Joseph Parker (30-2, 21 KOs), 30, of New Zealand, on Sept. 24 at a site to be announced, a source with knowledge of the bout told Fight Freaks Unite. It will top a BT Sports Box Office pay-per-view card in the United Kingdom. A rights deal in the United States has not been finalized but Top Rank could acquire it for ESPN+. In April, during the Tyson Fury-Dillian Whyte undercard, Joyce and Parker posed for photos and Warren said they would fight in July. But then Parker signed with Boxxer, which has a deal with BT rival Sky Sports, so it is unclear how the fight came together.
Promoter Don King issued a statement Wednesday denying he failed to pay heavyweight Daniel Dubois for his fourth-round knockout of King fighter Trevor Bryan to win the WBA “regular” title on June 11 in Miami. “I have talked with Dubois and his father about the matter,” King said. “I’ve told them the money was in escrow and waiting for Dubois’ promoter and manager, Frank Warren, (to give King) the wiring instructions. … I am deeply hurt and terribly disappointed in what is happening now. I’ve never not paid a fighter and this is certainly not the case here.” England’s Dubois sued King on Monday in circuit court in Broward County, Florida, alleging breach of contract because King’s company has failed to pay him for the bout. Dubois contends King owes him somewhere between $938,274.32 and $463,274.32, the discrepancy because he is unsure whether King paid the WBA sanctioning fees and his taxes to the IRS.
Before the Premier Boxing Champions Fox Sports pay-per-view headlined by the Andy Ruiz Jr.-Luis Ortiz heavyweight fight Sept. 4 (9 p.m. ET) at Crypto Arena in Los Angeles, there are 10-round preliminary bouts on FS1 and then Fox. The coverage will begin on FS1 at 7 p.m. ET with junior featherweight contender Ra’eese Aleem (19-0, 12 KOs), 32, of Las Vegas, against Mike Plania (26-1, 13 KOs), 25, of the Philippines, followed by junior middleweight Joey Spencer (15-0, 10 KOs), 22, of Fenton, Michigan, facing Kevin Salgado (14-0-1, 9 KOs), 24, of San Antonio, at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. Aleem-Plania was originally scheduled for Jun 18 on the undercard of WBC middleweight titlist Jermall Charlo’s bout with Maciej Sulecki, but the card was called off when Charlo hurt his back.
After Danny Garcia (37-3, 21 KOs) moved up to junior middleweight and made a successful return following a 19-month layoff to handily outpoint David Benavidez this past Saturday in a Showtime main event, the former junior welterweight and welterweight titlist called out Keith Thurman, who handed him his first loss by split decision in an outstanding welterweight unification fight in 2017. Thurman, a PBC stablemate of Garcia’s, responded to the call-out on social media, writing, “I’m too pretty, I’m too blessed. DSG (Danny ‘Swift’ Garcia) can never pass the Keith Thurman test! I beat that boy with bone spurs. I wasn’t even at my best. Look man, my IQ is even higher, his feet are slow like a flat tire. This is not a game, it’s not Street Fighter — but I will still hit you with that yoga fire!”
Junior welterweight Kenneth Sims Jr. (17-2-1, 5 KOs), 28, of Chicago, will face Christian Mino (22-5-2, 17 KOs), 25, of Argentina, in the 10-round main event of a card Aug. 21 (Bally Sports Net, 7 p.m. ET) at the Caribe Royale in Orlando, Florida, Boxlab Promotions announced. Sims is coming off consecutive wins over unbeaten foes, the heavily hyped Elvis Rodriguez and Keeshawn Williams. In the 10-round co-feature, junior welterweight Orestes Velazquez (4-0, 4 KOs), 29, a Cuba native fighting out of Miami, will fight Emiliano Martin Garcia (17-7-1, 13 KOs), 38, of Argentina.
Show and tell
Rafael Marquez and Israel Vazquez, the epitome of Mexican warriors, fought four times. The first three bouts, which came consecutively, were each all-time epic battles for the WBC junior featherweight title with the second and third bouts earning honors as consensus fight of the year in 2007 and 2008. Marquez, a longtime bantamweight champion, moved up to junior featherweight and knocked out Vazquez in the seventh round of their first action-packed fight that was the front runner for 2007 fight of the year honors — that is until the second fight five months later. The rematch was even more jaw-dropping than the first fight. It was a rock ‘em, sock ‘em slugfest and competitive all the way until Vazquez, who was ahead 48-47 on all three scorecards going into the sixth round, avenged his loss by stopping Marquez to regain the title at Dodge Arena in Hidalgo, Texas, on Showtime, which televised all four of their fights. Vazquez suffered cuts over both eyes but he dropped Marquez in the sixth round. I picked the third round as round of the year. The unforgettable rematch was on Aug. 4, 2007 — 15 years ago on Thursday. Here is an incredibly rare site poster from the fight in my collection.
Lopez photo: Mikey Williams/Top Rank; Cobbs photo: Tom Hogan/Golden Boy
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