Teofimo Lopez Announces Major Change After Brutal Shakur Stevenson Loss

For the second time in his career, Teofimo Lopez is making a monumental change following a loss.

After three years in the super lightweight division, Lopez is looking to move up for the second time in his professional career. The 28-year-old announced his intention to conduct his next fight at welterweight on his Instagram Story after losing to Shakur Stevenson in the Ring VI main event.

Although nothing in Lopez's career indicated this move would be coming, he is following his own game plan from three years ago.

Teofimo Lopez has confirmed his plans to move to welterweight following his loss to Shakur Stevenson 👀

The Ring VI | Exclusively on DAZN 🥊 pic.twitter.com/q9lS63WCwm
— Ring Magazine (@ringmagazine) February 1, 2026

Lopez's division change

Lopez moved up to 140 pounds in 2022, nearly one year after his shocking loss to George Kambosos Jr. to lose his lightweight titles. He went on to win his next six fights, which included three defenses of the WBO and The Ring super lightweight belts.

Lopez is going back to the well after the second loss of his career in hopes of having lightning strike twice.

His loss to Stevenson, however, was much worse than his loss to Kambosos. He did not get hurt as much as he did against Kambosos, but Stevenson had him bewildered and frustrated from bell to bell.

Teofimo Lopez | Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

Stevenson out-landed Lopez 165 to 72, including 105 jabs to just 16 in return. Lopez never landed more than 11 punches in a single round.

Lopez's announcement comes after Stevenson claimed he would return to 135 pounds after the fight, win or lose. Stevenson made that declaration during fight week and reiterated it after becoming a four-division champion.

Potential matchups for Teofimo Lopez at welterweight

Lopez officially declared his next career move after a loss, but he has been teasing it for a while. 'The Takeover' spent months calling out WBA interim super welterweight Jaron Ennis during 'Boots' IBF welterweight title reign.

Ennis has been working on a fight with Vergil Ortiz Jr. since his 11th-round knockout of Uisma Lima in October 2025. Those talks have been on hold since Ortiz filed a lawsuit against Golden Boy Promotions in an effort to escape his promotional contract.

Lopez has also engaged in social media banter with Ryan Garcia and the recently crowned IBF champion Lewis Crocker. He was previously involved in negotiations to potentially fight Devin Haney, though those talks dissipated when the latter confirmed his move up to the welterweight division.

Regardless of the weight of his next fight, Lopez has work to clean up within his own team. His father, Teofimo Lopez Sr., who also doubles as his head trainer, threw him under the bus for not following the purported game plan in the loss to Stevenson, despite widespread criticism of his uninspiring corner work.

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