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Teofimo Lopez’s retirement that nobody believes appears as though it will quickly involve the WBO 140 lb title being vacated, as WBO President Paco Valcarcel addressed the situation this afternoon, saying he’d received word from Lopez that he will be giving up the belt:
Just now @TeofimoLopez is texting me that he relinquished his Jr welterweight title..We should respect his decision...If he come back, wbo doors will be always open for him..@pugboxing @DanRafael1 @JakeNDaBox @LoMejorDelBoxeo @MikeCoppinger @ChavaESPN @NotiFight @WorldBoxingOrg
— Paco Valcárcel, Esq. (@PacoValcarcel) June 15, 2023
Valcarcel’s words give the indication that Lopez, 25, will no longer be recognized as WBO titleholder.
A seemingly clear in-house solution at Top Rank would be to have Jose Ramirez and Arnold Barboza Jr face one another for the belt. In the most recent WBO rankings, where Josh Taylor still had the belt, Lopez was the No. 1 contender, and Barboza and Ramirez followed at Nos. 2 and 3.
Ramirez vs Barboza may not set the box office on fire, but it’s a good fight between a former titleholder and worthy contender, and a guy in Barboza who has simply kept winning and done everything asked of him, while Top Rank have frankly never seemed all that invested in promoting him as a potential star.
At 31, Barboza (28-0, 10 KO) is itching for a title shot and has been. He most recently fought on Feb. 3, beating Jose Pedraza in Arizona.
The 30-year-old Ramirez (28-1, 18 KO) last fought on Mar. 25, beating Richard Commey via 11th round stoppage in Fresno. Ramirez did that fight after passing on an order to face Regis Prograis for the WBC title.
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