Teofimo Lopez says he took the Shakur Stevenson fight at the wrong point in his career.
Speaking to Ariel Helwani, Lopez pointed to the plan he took into the January bout and when it happened.
I’d say what went wrong was the gameplan. Stevenson’s a class act, a defensive fighter at that, and I think the whole problem was the miscommunication, and possibly just taking a fight with Shakur at that particular time.
Maybe earlier on, after the Taylor victory and those types of fights, would have been best.
The Taylor win came in June 2023, when Lopez took the WBO super-lightweight title from Josh Taylor by unanimous decision. He followed it with two flat defenses against Jamaine Ortiz and Steve Claggett in 2024, then a much better performance in beating Arnold Barboza Jr. in May 2025.
Stevenson beat him at Madison Square Garden in January by 119-109 on all three cards, a clean sweep of every round.
Lopez has made the game plan argument before. He told Boxing Highs in May that the way to beat Stevenson is to make it dirty, and described him as defensively sound and hard to reach. He has also been publicly critical of his father and trainer, Teofimo Lopez Sr., over his corner work.
Lopez returns against Rolando Romero for the WBA super-lightweight title in Las Vegas. Stevenson has not fought since January and has signed with Zuffa Boxing.
