Picture Credit: Twitter
Teofimo Lopez, the American professional boxer, has announced shock retirement from the sport at the age of 25. He had defeated Josh Taylor, the 32-year-old Scot at the Madison Square Garden on June 10, Saturday, by a unanimous decision to win the WBO Lightweight Championship.
After a slow start in the opening few rounds, Lopez found his best rhythm and started to assert his dominance. At one point during the title fight, he looked like scoring a stoppage against Taylor, but in the end, he won with the judges' scorecard reading 115-113, 115-113, 117-111. With this massive victory in New York City, he also became a two-division world champion in boxing.
But, shortly afterward, in a surprising turn of events, the American sportsman took to Instagram to reveal that he is retiring from boxing with immediate effect. He shared a post with a caption, which read, “What a relief! Retired at the Top. Thank you Boxing for the amazing life you’ve provided for myself and my entire loved ones! THE DOUBLE-GREATEST #JesusIsKing”
On June 12, Monday, Teofimo Lopez discussed his retirement with Max Kellerman on “This Just In,” a sports talk platform which airs on ESPN. There, he was quoted as saying, “I’m going to be announcing my retirement to the sport of boxing. Blood, sweat and tears, I’ve done for the sport. At a young age, at 25 years young, and the first male really to become a two-time undisputed world champion in a four-belt era.”
“I have a lot of ideas; I have a lot of things in mind for the sport of boxing. I really can’t do that if I’m always in the gym training and preparing for another upcoming fight or bout so I’m really just focusing right now on that task,” the 25-year-old boxer further said.
