Teofimo Lopez ready to follow in his dad’s footsteps by one day training his son… despite their ‘rough’ experiences
TEOFIMO LOPEZ is ready to one day coach his son to become a boxer – despite the sport taking a toll on the relationship with his own dad.
Lopez has been coached by his father Teofimo Sr throughout his amateur and professional career.
And while the two are inseparable, boxing has caused the lines to be blurred between father and son and trainer and fighter.
But even so, if Lopez’s three-year-old son Junior wanted to enter the family business, the world champion would not pass his boy over.
He told SunSport: “I would train my son and I would coach him.
“I think that he’ll be in the best hands with me. I’ll definitely be there watching him, step by step.
“I’ll definitely have other trainers or other mentors that have paved the way for myself to watch him as well, to make sure that my son is in the great hands along the journey of boxing because this road is rugged, it’s rough.
“Many bumps and you gotta be a strong, you gotta be strong willed, to be able to conquer all of them.”
Lopez will be the first to admit his volatile dad is often a coach first and father second – with boxing always coming first.
He said: “Boxing all the time. I mean, it’s not too hard though.
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“It’s good to sometimes feel like you have many more things outside of boxing but everything always involves boxing.
“This is what I know, this is my world and I love it. And I think that was the thing about my whole situation was the key of trying to find out what was my purpose, what is it that I need to do?”
Lopez, 27, returns on Friday night in a historic three-fight card staged in New York’s Times Square.
He defends his WBO super-lightweight title against rival Arnold Barboza Jr, 33, amid inconsistent performances in the ring.
Lopez has excellent wins over Vasiliy Lomachenko and Josh Taylor – but escaped with controversial decisions against Jamaine Ortiz and Sandor Martin.
Also in action on the night is Ryan Garcia against Rolando Romero and Devin Haney returning to face Jose Ramirez.
Lopez especially has history with Garcia, Haney and Romero, dating back to their days boxing in amateur competitions.
He said: “We all know each other from like the amateurs. That’s what it feels like right now.
“It feels like we’re in a national tournament. Only thing is that the stage got bigger.
“The people know us a bit more and what else can I say? It’s a historic event. But other than that, it’s, no pressure, no rivalry, just entertainment.”