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Teofimo Lopez Feels Ryan Garcia Shouldn’t Have Pulled Out of the Javier Fortuna Fight

Published 05/14/2021, 4:30 PM EDT

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The WBC interim lightweight champ, Ryan Garcia was all set to face Javier Fortuna for his title defense on July 9. Unfortunately, Garcia pulled out of this fight for personal reasons. This was a bold decision that shook every boxing fan to the core. Also, this decision put ‘KingRy’ on the receiving end of a huge backlash from fans and fellow fighters.

However, the unified lightweight kingpin, Teofimo Lopez, has favored Garcia for the same. Speaking to Boxing Social, he said, “I think that it takes like I said a brave soul but in reality, it just takes a great person to do it. You know a lot of folks don’t understand what goes on for us as athletes, we’re more than that.”

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I don’t agree on him taking a break off, because I was going through it with ‘Loma’ and before camp,” added Lopez who later agreed that everyone was different.

Garcia, who is still young, is looking forward to reaching the peak of the 135-pound division. In his last fight, ‘King Ry’ hammered Luke Campbell to claim the WBC interim lightweight title. This was the biggest and the most important win for the 22-year-old.

With that, the young gun was looking to go even big in his next fights.

Who should Ryan Garcia ideally face next?

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After a sublime win over Campbell, the only fight that interests Garcia is a 12-round war with the WBC lightweight champ, Devin Haney.

via Getty

The matchup between this pair has been in the pipeline for a long time, but the fight couldn’t really reach terms. However, the pair is now in their absolute primes. Hence, this might just be the ideal time for these two to fight each other.

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But the champ, Haney, is already aligned with Jorge Linares for his title defense fight on May 29. If he wins, ‘The Dream’ will be free to box anyone from the stacked lightweight roster. That said, it’ll be interesting to see if Haney finally gets lined up to face his long-time rival next.

What do you draw off Teofimo Lopez’s remarks on Garcia?

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Written by:

Prathamesh Singh Chauhan

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Prathamesh Singh Chauhan is a Boxing Author at EssentiallySports. He is a graduate from the International Institute of Sports Management who combines his love for sports, particularly combat sports, and his flair for writing and analysis to help him in his day-to-day work. He has prior professional experience with sporting organizations such as Star Sports, Khelo India, and NBA.
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