Teofimo Lopez Jr Blames Father After Stevenson Loss

Teofimo Lopez Jr placed the blame for his January loss to Shakur Stevenson squarely on his father's shoulders in a tense interview ahead of his welterweight title challenge against Rolly Romero later this month.

The former junior welterweight champion told Ring Magazine's Mr. Verzace that his father and trainer failed to provide proper corner instructions during the Madison Square Garden defeat, per a Bad Left Hook report. When Lopez Sr suggested they both made mistakes that night, his son cut him off. "No. Sometimes you just got to take it for what it is," Lopez Jr said. "I got to take [responsibility] for my actions when I'm wrong."

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Lopez Jr Details What Went Wrong At MSG

Lopez Jr described a corner that talked him down rather than coached him up. "When you're bleeding, when they're allowing Shakur to do all these extra things, and you're in there and you've broken the record for most attendance in Madison Square Garden, your trainer is not giving you instructions, they're just talking you down. 'Where's your power? Where's this? You're going to hate yourself,'" he said.

Lopez Sr insisted outside forces were trying to break the father-son team mentally before the fight. "You know how great my son is that you had all these people trying to mess with him mentally for that fight," he said, adding that he has since quit social media. Lopez Jr fired back with a reminder: "But at the same time, you're my father."

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The exchange suggests lingering tension in the Lopez camp as the fighter prepares to move up in weight. Lopez Jr said he may need to use a vision board this camp to ensure everyone shares the same game plan. The Romero fight is scheduled for late August.

Reported via:

• Bad Left Hook — ‘We both messed up’: Teofimo Lopez Jr and Sr have it out over loss to Shakur Stevenson