Teofimo Lopez and Shakur Stevenson were talking nice to one another on social media today, talking about their potential fight. Lopez (22-1, 13 KOs) confirmed with Shakur (24-0, 11 KOs) that they will be fighting.

A New Tone for Teofimo

It was out of character for Teo to be trash-talking Shakur, but it could be that he was worried about him bragging about how The Ring ranked him #1 at lightweight, and dared the other fighters to come take the top spot from him.

Several fighters at 135 would take the #1 spot from Shakur if he were only willing to fight them. If he were willing to take all comers for his top spot, he’d have to deal with The Big Four that could ruin the hard work his promoters have put into building his career: Andy Cruz, Raymond Muratalla, Abdullah Mason, and Floyd Schofield.

Eddie Hearn’s Protective Stance

The way I see it, Shakur is going to lose to those four lightweights, and Teofimo is aware of that. Once that happens, his value will plummet, and he’ll be of little use to him. Shakur’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, has done a bang-up job steering Shakur around those four. But that can’t go on forever.

All Facts The Best vs The Best winner is King👑 #MakeBoxingGreatAgain https://t.co/rPOWrYfs69

— Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) September 5, 2025

“Kicked the door down and took my #1 spot. Now tell somebody come get this spot from me,” said Shakur on X, reveling in his high ranking in The Ring lightweight rankings.

For Lopez to tell Shakur today that they will be fighting, the timing of this suggests to some fans on social media that he’s concerned about losing out on this fight. Teofimo doesn’t have anything to worry about because Shakur isn’t about to fight any of the top guys.

Shakur’s promoter, Hearn, who also promotes Andy Cruz, has never shown any interest in matching them. It’s obvious to some fans that Hearn doesn’t want the more marketable fighter, Shakur, to lose to Cruz.