Teofimo Lopez shows support for Ryan Garcia: “It takes a brave soul to openly express he’s going through tough times mentally”

Teofimo Lopez has become a pretty good trash talker along with a world-class professional fighter, but he flipped that switch off to show some public support for fellow young star Ryan Garcia, who has withdrawn from his scheduled July 9 fight with Javier Fortuna to deal with some mental health issues.

Lopez posted this on Twitter yesterday:

Lopez and Garcia are, to some degree, media rivals, in that they’re both hot young names in the sport and both lightweights, too. In theory, Garcia wants what Lopez has, the world titles. And there has been talk about that fight happening at some point. Lopez has also expressed at least occasional respect for Garcia taking a fight earlier this year with Luke Campbell, compared to the opposition Gervonta Davis and Devin Haney have been fighting.

Fortuna also sent out public support for Garcia after yesterday’s announcement, saying, “There are things more important than fighting and I hope he is able to quickly recover. We can reschedule our fight for a time when I can face and beat a 100% prepared version of Ryan Garcia.”