Teofimo Lopez won’t be on the list because he’s ‘retired’

Teofimo Lopez threw us a curveball.

The new 140-pound champion announced his retirement shortly after beating Josh Taylor on June 10 in New York, a win that could put him back on our pound list.

We didn’t take his announcement seriously. Which 25 year old owner retires? On Thursday, however, he gave up the WBO belt he had earned out of Taylor’s respect, which forced us to take action.

We have to take Lopez’s word, although we still expect him to be back in the ring at some point. That means Lopez won’t climb the list. And Taylor, who was honored for joining the fight with Lopez, created a loophole by falling down the rankings.

The Scotsman was replaced by Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, who beat Carlos Cuadras and Srisaket Sor Rungvisai in a row last year, capped 2022 by overtaking Israel Gonzalez and then deciding Cristian Gonzalez Hernandez though he fought half the round with a broken jaw in September.

Next 2-pound-for-pounder: No. 2 Naoya Inoue will challenge 122-pound owner and Honoree Stephen Fulton Jr. on July 25 in Japan.

Here’s what the list looks like at the moment:

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POUND-FOR-POUND

1. Terence Crawford – Scheduled to face No. 4 Errol Spence Jr. to win the undisputed 147-pound championship on July 29.
2. Naoya Inoue – Scheduled to challenge 122-pound owner and Honoree Stephen Fulton Jr. on July 25 in Tokyo.
3. Oleksandr Usyk – Said to be in talks to defend his three heavyweight belts against Daniel Dubois but nothing concrete emerged from the talks.
4. Errol Spence Jr. – Scheduled to face No. 1 Terence Crawford for the undisputed 147-pound championship on July 29.
5. Dmitri Bivol – Not on schedule.
6. Tyson’s Rage – No scheduled wars.
7. Juan Francisco Estrada – No scheduled wars.
8. Canelo Alvarez– No scheduled wars.
9. Jermell Charlo – No scheduled wars.
10. Gervonta Davis – No scheduled wars.
11. Vasiliy Lomachenko – No scheduled wars.
12. Artur Betterbiev – Scheduled to defend his 175-pound title against Callum Smith on August 19.
13. Shakur Stevenson – No scheduled wars.
14. Roman Gonzalez – There are no scheduled wars.
15. Devin Haney – No scheduled wars.

honorable mention (alphabetically): David Benavidez (no battle schedule); Jermall Charlo (no battle schedule); Stephen Fulton Jr. (scheduled to defend her 122-pound title against Naoya Inoue No. 2 on July 25 in Tokyo); Kazuto Ioka (scheduled to challenge 115-pound owner Joshua Franco on June 24 in Tokyo); Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez (no battle schedule).