When the fighters arrived in Times Square for Monday’s grand entrance, the expected photo-op never happened. Teófimo Lopez walked the red carpet, addressed the crowd, then bypassed the traditional head-to-head with Arnold Barboza Jr., which is shaped by their last press event in March, when Lopez knocked the cowboy hat off Barboza’s head and followed with an open-hand slap. Security intervened that day; López’s camp wanted no repeat with the WBO junior-welterweight belt on the line this Friday, 2 May, on DAZN PPV.
The clash of styles promises more chess than brawl: Lopez’s explosive counters against Barboza’s high-volume jab-and-pivot game. Pundits note that Barboza has never been KO'd, while Lopez has gone the distance in three of his last four and hasn’t scored a stoppage since 2022. Yet each insists power will tell. “He quit against Tank; he’ll quit against me,” Barboza said. Lopez replied, “I’m the champion; he still ain’t there yet. Friday I beat the brakes off this boy.”
Watch the official grand arrivals highlights: Watch
The winner moves into a loaded 140-lb landscape: WBC champion Alberto Puello, WBA titlist Gary Antuanne Russell, and IBF ruler Richardson Hitchins all wait, unless Saudi money reroutes the victor into an autumn showdown with Shakur Stevenson. First they must settle a grudge that started in a dusty Vegas gym eight years ago and reignited with a slap in Manhattan.
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