Teofimo handles Barboza Jr, calls out Boots Ennis

Teofimo Lopez was sharp and fast in a win over Arnold Barboza Jr, and has his sights set on Jaron Ennis.

Teofimo Lopez had his best performance in recent memory tonight in Times Square, retaining his WBO super lightweight title with a clear and deserved decision win over Arnold Barboza Jr.

The loss is the first of Barboza’s career, dropping him to 32-1 (11 KO), while Lopez improves to 22-1 (13 KO) and, at least for the moment, probably quiets some critics of some of his other recent outings.

Judges scored the fight 116-112, 116-112, and 118-110 for Lopez.

Teofimo, 27, was just too fast and too sharp for the 33-year-old Barboza, who seemed to shrink just a bit in his first crack at a world title, though he had some solid rounds. He just didn’t have any real answers for Lopez’s noticeable speed advantage, and Teofimo’s focus never slipped or dipped in this one, as he looked dialed-in. Even when Barboza did catch him and bend his knees a bit with a good right hand, Lopez handled it well, recovered quickly, and got back to the business at hand.

At the very least, this was the best-looking Teofimo we’ve seen since his 2023 win over Josh Taylor, and maybe the best since his 2020 win over Vasiliy Lomachenko. The craftiness and solid boxing of Barboza never gave Teofimo much trouble, which we’ve seen happen in past fights and just didn’t tonight.

Lopez said he’ll look into moving up to welterweight going forward, and made a call to face unified titleholder Jaron “Boots” Ennis, who is considered the top dog at 147.

“I felt great, man, I felt reborn. At 140, I’ve been at this weight for some time, but we’ll talk about going up, maybe,” Lopez said. “I go after the tough challenges, and definitely I want to see ‘Boots.’”