Answering Some Questions About the Boxing Business Landscape #5

It’s time to answer a few more questions about the business landscape in boxing. Admittedly, this one is relatively short, but it’s also been a slow few days in boxing news.

What’s next for Teofimo Lopez?

He has some personal issues to deal with including a divorce. He needs to focus on those rather than boxing at this time, and it sounds like he plans to do that. I would be shocked if he never boxed as a professional again, but I do think it will be a while before we see him again. If and when he comes back, Top Rank will have several good contenders to offer him for a larger amount of money than he earned for the fight against Josh Taylor.

If Teofimo actually vacated the WBO super-lightweight title, what would happen to it?

It would be contested by some combination of Liam Paro, Arnold Barboza Jr., and Jose Ramirez. Paro won a sanctioned eliminator, so he would be in line for the vacant title, but he has withdrawn from his last two scheduled fights due to injury. The most recent of those was scheduled for June 17th. The nature of his injury was not disclosed. If Paro is unavailable due to injury, Top Rank promotes Ramirez and Barboza, so that should be a makable fight.

What should be next for Josh Taylor after losing to Teofimo Lopez?

Based on his flat and lethargic performance and his interview with Sky Sports, he needs to move up to welterweight. While Taylor is still able to reach 140 pounds on a scale, it seems that the requirements to make the weight are likely hurting his performance in the ring. Taylor told Sky Sports before the fight with Teofimo that he had gained 16 pounds since the weigh-in. While I am not a nutritional expert, I have noticed a trend when guys around Taylor’s weight seem to be gaining that much weight after the weigh-in, it affects their performance and it is a sign that they need to move up in weight. Taylor has indicated that he will move up in weight.

If I were advising Taylor, I advise him to take a comeback fight later this year. I don’t have a particular opponent in mind for him, especially since Top Rank doesn’t have many welterweights. If he wins and looks good, there’s a good chance that he would position himself to fight for the WBO title if the winner of Errol Spence vs Terrance Crawford vacates the titles to move up in weight or retire. Alexis Rocha is the mandatory challenger for the WBO title, and there’s nothing about him that would compel the Spence vs Crawford winner to stick around at welterweight to fight him. Rocha is promoted by Golden Boy, which does business with Top Rank when it makes sense.

Tyson Fury says he plans to announce his next fight soon. What’s your best guess on his next opponent?

My best guess is Martin Bakole simply because he’s the most credible guy available and Boxxer doesn’t have a logical opponent for him. Boxxer has worked with Queensberry promotions previously on the Joe Joyce vs Joseph Parker fight. Bob Arum also mentioned Bakole as a possible opponent in a recent interview. I’m not completely confident in that guess, but that’s my best guess.

Tony Weeks spoke about the stoppage in Romero vs Barroso to journalist Michael Woods. What did you make of his answer?

First, I appreciate that Tony Weeks addressed the matter publicly. He also said that he made a mistake in stopping the fight because he thought Romero was landing the punches that he was missing. Weeks said that he was at the wrong angle to see and that seems like a reasonable explanation after looking at it again.

Weeks did defend his knockdown call earlier in the round and said that factored into his decision to stop the fight. Weeks also said that Barroso’s age also factored in to why he stopped the fight early. I don’t agree with Weeks on the knockdown call, but that will remain a respectful disagreement.

Any notable signings?

One that caught my attention was Wasserman signing Lee McGregor. McGregor had a rise to the European level at bantamweight and super-bantamweight. Inactivity (partially due to a deal with Probellum, who is now out of business) and weight issues have seen him fade out of the picture. There’s a chance that super-bantamweight could open up in the next year or so, so McGregor could find himself in the mix if he can get back down to that weight class. Wasserman said that he will fight on July 21st in Scotland.

Michael Hunter, who was in the heavyweight title contention picture not that long ago, signed a promotional deal with Reyes Boxing. The first fight of that deal will be the main event of a club show in Massachusetts on June 24th. We’ll see if he makes moves after this to return to the title contention picture.

Are there any new mandatory situations of interest?

IBF cruiserweight titleholder Jai Opetaia is due to face a mandatory challenger. Originally, he was ordered to face Mateusz Masternak of Poland. Masternak withdrew from consideration this week, so the IBF picked Richard Riakporhe as the new mandatory challenger. Riakporhe, who is promoted by Boxxer promotions, is coming off a knockout win over former titleholder Krystopf Glowacki, and he has a win over current WBO titleholder Chris Billam-Smith. Opetaia vs Riakporhe would be a very interesting fight if it materializes.