Teofimo Lopez has criticised his father for showing a lack of competence during his unanimous decision defeat to Shakur Stevenson.

‘The Takeover’ was handily outboxed and dethroned by Stevenson in January, winning just one round as his opponent became a four-division world champion at 140lbs.

As a result, Lopez is now moving up to 147lbs in an attempt to reinvent himself and become a three-weight world champion against Rolando Romero.

But while he felt a change in weight was most certainly needed, the 29-year-old saw no reason to dismiss his father, Teofimo Sr, as his head coach.

This is in spite of the fact that Lopez Sr was heavily ridiculed for his efforts in the corner at Madison Square Garden, where Stevenson’s route to victory was only made clearer by his bizarre style of coaching.

Rather than offering his son any words of advice, he just simply pointed out his flaws and gave the defending champion no direction on how to improve.

Lopez therefore confronted his father while speaking with Ring Magazinealbeit with no threats of employing a different trainer.

“Every son wants to make their father proud. When you got your father in that moment – when you’re bleeding; when they’re allowing Shakur to do all these extra things … and your trainer is not going you instructions – they’re just talking you down: ‘Where’s your power? Where’s this? You’re gonna hate yourself’ – all roads lead to [defeat].”

As he takes on WBA champion Romero at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena on Saturday, it should be interesting to see how Lopez’s corner shapes up between rounds.

In any event, the American will be under a fair amount of pressure to produce an improved performance.

Ryan Garcia and Conor Benn are scheduled to square off next month, and ‘King Ry’ has reacted to news that this will be the Briton’s final bout at welterweight, following a difficult weight cut.

Benn has not fought at 147lbs since a knockout victory over Chris van Heerden back in April 2022, but he was installed as the WBC’s mandatory challenger for the welterweight division earlier this year, after revealing his intentions of returning to the weight.

Reality seems to have hit home for ‘The Destroyer’ during this camp though, as he has already announced that this will be his last contest in the division following a brutal weight cutregardless of the outcome, signalling that he has outgrown the weight.

In a clip captured by Ring MagazineGarcia responded to Benn’s announcement and declared that his upcoming opponent is already making excuses ahead of their meeting.

“We know you can’t make weight. This is why Conor Benn said this is his last time at 147lbs. My guy is making excuses before he loses, who says that, ‘this is my last fight at 147’.

“My guy, you gonna go backwards just to get that a** whooped? Oh my gosh, bro. It’s fine, bro, he is just going to run into it. F**k that dude.”

Garcia-Benn takes place on Saturday, September 12, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, with Zuffa Boxing cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia poised to take on current WBC cruiserweight titleholder Noel Mikaelian – although he may no longer be champion come fight week.

Next month, Ryan Garcia will go toe-to-toe with Conor Benn in the first defence of his WBC welterweight title, and now former pound-for-pound king Terence Crawford has doubled down on his prediction for the clash.

Crawford hung up the gloves whilst recognised as the pound-for-pound number one in December, but that has not stopped ‘Bud’ from developing a heated rivalry with Garcia since his retirement, with the pair making regular jibes at one another in recent months.

Garcia has now revealed his intentions to tempt the undefeated southpaw out of retirement if he retains his title against Benn, but the Omaha-born sensation has declared his belief that Garcia will lose his belt to the Briton, favouring the challenger’s size and power.

Now, as fight week edges closer, Crawford has once again insisted that Benn will pull off the upset, as he told Fight Hub TV that he is picking ‘The Destroyer’ to come out on top.

“It’s going to be a good fight. I got Conor Benn!”

Benn will be competing at welterweight for the first time in nearly five years, looking to wrestle away the belt that Garcia won back in February with a win over Mario Barrios.

The event takes place on Saturday, September 12, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, and on the undercard, Jai Opetaia is set to take on current WBC cruiserweight world champion Noel Mikaelian.

It currently remains to be seen whether the Armenian will still be the reigning titleholder when fight night comes around though, due to rumours that Mikaelian will be stripped for avoiding a fight with David Benavidez.