{"id":305952,"date":"2023-06-09T03:45:18","date_gmt":"2023-06-09T03:45:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=305952"},"modified":"2023-06-09T07:00:52","modified_gmt":"2023-06-09T07:00:52","slug":"aim-for-death-boxers-wild-speech-baffles-rival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=305952","title":{"rendered":"'Aim for death': Boxer's wild speech baffles rival"},"content":{"rendered":"

\ufeffTeofimo Lopez<\/a> vowed to end Josh Taylor's life in the lead up to Sunday's fight but his words at Friday's press conference left most of those in attendance scratching their heads.<\/p>\n

Lopez, 25, the man who George Kambosos defeated to claim the lightweight belts\ufeff in 2021<\/a>, has courted controversy ahead of his bout with Scotsman Taylor, who was the undisputed champion at super lightweight before he relinquished three of his four titles.<\/p>\n

Lopez,\ufeff a former undisputed lightweight champion who defeated Ukrainian great Vasily Lomachenko, told Punsh Drunk Boxing that the thing he loves most about boxing is that "I could kill a guy and get away with it."<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Aussies tear through India in historic collapse<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Freddy rips Maroons star's call after Koroisau hit<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Queensland star points finger at media over ball-carrying style<\/strong><\/a>\ufeff<\/p>\n

He then doubled down by saying he wanted to literally kill Taylor: "I took [Vasiliy Lomachenko's] heat, but I'm taking Taylor's life."<\/p>\n

Lopez did not back down after making the comments\ufeff, telling Fight Hub he doesn't regret a thing.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"This is what I mean, boxing is soft," Lopez said. "I was going to pass away against Kambosos because of the injuries I had in the fight, literally. I thank God I am still here. But if I had gone, they would do the 10-bell count and people would miss me for a little bit and then be forgotten. I'm not apologising for my comments, no. If he dies, he dies. People have died in the sport, this is what comes with it. It's part of the sport.<\/p>\n

"Sorry if [my words] are too strong. Sorry that you are too sensitive to understand the truth of what we do this for. If you don't like it, don't sign up for boxing. If you don't like it, don't watch boxing. Go watch MMA, those guys die less."<\/p>\n

Lopez's words stung many people in the boxing world who have seen many fighters die in the ring\ufeff, leaving a sense of pain hanging over the sport.<\/p>\n

Taylor did not take too kindly the threat to end his life either, saying: "I know he said he wants to kill me and stuff, but I really want to f—ing hurt this guy and maybe cause some damage and pain, some physical damage, some facial reconstruction … really mark him up," said the Scottish fighter, 32.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"But at the end of the day, you want him to go get back, recover, get well, be safe and sound and go to his family … not inflicting long-lasting damage. It's a sport at the end of the day."<\/p>\n

With all the baggage sparked by Lopez's comments, promoters reportedly forked out extra cash for more security at Friday's press conference, which went off without any violence.<\/p>\n

But what fans and those in attendance were treated to was Lopez explaining his take on death, after quoting former heavyweight champ Mike Tyson.<\/p>\n

"I just made this up yesterday. Aim for death for that's where life begins," Lopez told the crowd as a baffled Taylor responded with a "no comment."<\/p>\n

Lopez continued amid the deafening silence: "I think it's a good one. You aim at death for that's where life begins," he repeated to yet more silence.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"Everybody is scared of death, I don't know why, we're all gonna die. At least If I die, it's for something that means something that's going to last forever. That's what greats are all about. Something you don't really know.<\/p>\n

"This is what we're all about man. Making history, remaking history\ufeff and giving the fans, giving the youth a good thing to follow on.<\/p>\n

"They need that motivation to know they can do it too. The only way you can. There's earth, there's man and in between that, you bring the realisation within yourself to the heavens."<\/p>\n

Following more awkward silence, the press conference host picked up by asking Taylor a question amid laughs from the crowd, before Lopez interrupted.<\/p>\n

\ufeff"Listen at the end of it all, everyone can laugh and do what the f— what they want, it's me and him that's fighting."\ufeff<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong> clicking here<\/strong><\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\ufeffTeofimo Lopez vowed to end Josh Taylor's life in the lead up to Sunday's fight but his words at Friday's press conference left most of […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":305954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305952"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=305952"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305952\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":305958,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305952\/revisions\/305958"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/305954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=305952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=305952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=305952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}