Teofimo Lopez feels he is 'faster and smarter' than Vasiliy Lomachenko and has 'no respect ' for Ukranian

Teofimo Lopez is ready to leave a huge stamp on world boxing and prevail over Vasiliy Lomachenko but believes his prime years are yet to come

IBF lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez has said that he lacks respect for his opponent Vasiliy Lomachenko ahead of their world lightweight title unification bout on October 17th, and believes that his best years in the sport have not yet arrived.

Lopez is unbeaten and will take a huge step-up in level against one of the top fighters in the shape of three-weight world champion Lomachenko, who has already dismantled some top-level fighters in the past including Jorge Linares and Anthony Crolla.

'El Brooklyn' has been touted as one of the stand-out talents emerging in the boxing world, and despite tremendous praise from experts and opponents, Lopez believes he can dismantle Lomachenko and see past the pressure and fear that 'Hi-Tech' imposes in the ring.

He said: "Him and I both are going for the glory, we’re trying to make a legacy, trying to build our legacy, and we we hang up the gloves, we want to be satisfied that we left our footprints in this world.

“That’s all I can take my hat off to him about, but when it comes to us being in the ring, I don’t like him, he don’t like me, and I don’t respect him. I’m sorry, I don’t respect him. That’s just what it comes to. I’m a hungry fighter, he’s a hungry fighter as well, and it’s going to be a great fight. But I’m younger, I’m smarter, and we’re going to see on Oct. 17".

The 23-year-old American also believes that he is capable of troubling Lomachenko, and believes he can take advantage of his speed and power to lad huge shots on the Ukranian, but insists his prime ability in the sport is much further down the line and will come with more experience in top fights.

He told Fight Hype: “We don’t respect him or any of the fighters he has faced, like Anthony Crolla was in fear the whole time before their fight. Everybody that he has faced already believes the hype train and they get shook. But I’m the type of fighter that does not get shook. You can say he’s a man of steel but I don’t care. I don’t respect no man when I’m in that ring.

“If you can’t take my shot then I’m going to take advantage of that. But if he can then there’s another plan that we got. There’s going to be a point in time in everybody’s career that there’s somebody that’s stronger than you, faster than you, so you have to work off of those things.

“Everybody has seen this man at his peak. I’m not even at my peak yet. What’s going to happen when I am in my prime? It’s going to be scary man.”

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