Pound-for-pound: Teofimo Lopez’s ‘retirement’ prevents him from climbing onto list
Teofimo Lopez threw us a curve.
The new 140-pound champion announced his retirement shortly after he defeated Josh Taylor on June 10 in New York, a victory that would’ve lifted him back onto our pound-for-pound list.
We didn’t take his announcement seriously. What 25-year-old titleholder retires? However, on Thursday, he gave up the WBO belt he took from the respect Taylor, which forces our hand.
We have to take Lopez at his word even though we still expect him to return to the ring sometime soon. That means Lopez will not climb onto the list. And Taylor, who was an Honorable Mention going into the fight with Lopez, has created an opening by falling out of the rankings.
The Scot was replaced by Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, who defeated Carlos Cuadras and Srisaket Sor Rungvisai in succession last year, capped 2022 by outpointing Israel Gonzalez and then decisioned Cristian Gonzalez Hernandez even though he fought half the bout with a broken jaw in September.
Next pound-for-pounder up: No. 2 Naoya Inoue will challenge 122-pound titleholder and Honorable Mention Stephen Fulton Jr. on July 25 in Japan.
Here’s what the list looks like at the moment:
BOXING JUNKIE
POUND-FOR-POUND
Terence Crawford – Scheduled to face No. 4 Errol Spence Jr. for the undisputed 147-pound championship on July 29.
Naoya Inoue – Scheduled to challenge 122-pound titleholder and Honorable Mention Stephen Fulton Jr. on July 25 in Tokyo.
Oleksandr Usyk – Reportedly in talks to defend his three heavyweight titles against Daniel Dubois but nothing concrete has emerged from the negotiations.
Errol Spence Jr. – Scheduled to face No. 1 Terence Crawford for the undisputed 147-pound championship on July 29.
Dmitry Bivol – No right scheduled.
Tyson Fury – No fight scheduled.
Juan Francisco Estrada – No fight scheduled.
Canelo Alvarez– No fight scheduled.
Jermell Charlo – No fight scheduled.
Gervonta Davis – No fight scheduled.
Vasiliy Lomachenko – No fight scheduled.
Artur Beterbiev – Scheduled to defend his 175-pound titles against Callum Smith on Aug. 19.
Shakur Stevenson – No fight scheduled.
Roman Gonzalez – No fight scheduled.
Devin Haney – No fight scheduled.
Honorable mention (alphabetical order): David Benavidez (no fight scheduled); Jermall Charlo (no fight scheduled); Stephen Fulton Jr. (scheduled to defend his 122-pound title against No. 2 Naoya Inoue on July 25 in Tokyo); Kazuto Ioka (scheduled to challenge 115-pound titleholder Joshua Franco on June 24 in Tokyo); Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez (no fight scheduled).
