Teofimo Lopez Admits He Didn’t Want To Face Jose Pedraza

Teofimo Lopez didn’t want to be fighting Jose Pedraza.

Lopez and Pedraza are set to fight on December 10 from Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater in New York City, New York. It’s an intriguing matchup as Lopez faces the former multi-division champion in his second fight at 140lbs. In his debut, he beat Pedro Campa, and now, he said he’s a bit disappointed to be facing Pedraza following his dominant win.

“It’s not someone that I would have liked to face,” said Lopez during an interview with Mark Kriegel. “However, with everything that’s going on, so many other fights are being matched right now. This was the best opportunity right now.”

If Lopez does get his hand raised – as many expect – he should be getting a much bigger fight next time out at 140lbs. But, all Lopez cares about is taking care of business and going into 2023 as a legit title contender in his new weight class.

“Everything happens for a reason. I’m just looking forward to making it a phenomenal end of the year to go into 2023 for a championship.” 

Teofimo Lopez (17-1), as mentioned, returned to the win column last time out with a TKO win over Pedro Campa. In the fight prior, he lost his WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and The Ring lightweight titles in a split decision loss to George Kambosos Jr. back in November of 2021. He won the belt as he defeated Vasyl Lomachenko by decision.

Jose Pedraza (29-4-1) is coming off a draw to Richard Commey and before that dropped a decision to Jose Ramirez. In his career, the former IBO and IBF super featherweight and WBO lightweight champion holds notable wins over Tevin Farmer, Javier Molina, and Stephen Smith. He has also lost to Gevonta Davis and Lomachenko.

Do you think Teofimo Lopez will beat Jose Pedraza in December?