“Stop trying to be nice on fight week. This is the fight week. I ain’t your buddy, dude,” Lopez said to Ring. “Don’t try and soften me up to not give you this whipping that I’m about to give you.”
Teofimo viewed the whole exchange as an attempt to blur lines that need to stay sharp. Instead of seeking mutual appreciation or late career validation, he is strictly here for a fight. Any shared history is irrelevant because he wants this relationship kept in the basement where it belongs.
“So, nah, I ain’t trying to hear all that. We men. I got a family to feed. I don’t care about all that,” Lopez said.
This reaction exposes a massive divide in how these two view the square circle. While Stevenson spent the week talking about skill and legacy, Lopez is rejecting that vibe completely by treating friendliness like a distraction. To his way of thinking, goodwill is just a tool used to dull his competitive edge.
Rather than escalating the usual trash talk, Lopez is slamming doors shut to ensure there is zero common ground before the opening bell. He is making it clear that no middle ground exists here.
It doesn’t matter if Stevenson was being genuine or not because Lopez only cares about the business at hand. By treating this as a cold transaction, he leaves no room for professional courtesy or a pat on the back. His only goal here is to get to work.
Fight week usually reveals the headspace a fighter is trying to occupy, and Lopez is doing everything possible to keep his intensity at 100%. He is shutting out the niceties Shakur is showing him because he needs that hostility to peak when the bell rings. Teofimo’s comments above indicate that he wants to make sure his killer instinct stays locked in.
He’s not here to be liked. He’s here to keep the edge sharp.
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