IBF World Lightweight Champion Richard Commey of Ghana and mandatory challenger Teofimo Lopez faced off at Wednesday’s final press conference ahead of their showdown Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York.
The bout is the co-feature to a main event featuring WBO World Welterweight titlist defending his belt against Egidijus Kavaliauskas. The card will be televised on ESPN, beginning at 9 p.m. ET.
Commey (29-2, 26 KOs) and Lopez (14-0, 11 KOs) are expected to steal the show in what could be a war. Here is what the fighters had to say:
Richard Commey
“2019 has been a great year. I’ve worked so hard coming from Ghana. You know how it is. To get to this stage, man, just an amazing feeling.”
“How many boxers have come from Ghana with a chance to fight in {The Garden} in the co-main event…God bless us, and I’m ready to retain my title. There is no way I’m going to lose.”
Teofimo Lopez
“It’s a blessing. And it’s a breathtaking moment. It’s just something I have to visualize and just know that, 22 years old, I have a great opportunity here to do a lot. I’m excited, man. What better way to finish off the year than fight in the Mecca of Boxing, Madison Square Garden, for my first world title, in New York? This is a moment right here.”
On the criticism from his last fight against Masayoshi Nakatani
“I think everybody needs something like that. I needed that. Everything happens for a reason. I take everything they try to throw at me negatively and turn it into a positive. You can’t faze me. You can’t bring me down. I’m here for a reason. Teofimo is doing what he’s doing come Saturday night. We’re going to go out there and take over. I have vengeance in me. I’m holding that, holding everything. I want to shut everyone up the best way I can, and that’s doing what I do best.”
“God didn’t bring us this far for nothing. I didn’t come out here just to talk my smack and not back it up. We’re gonna do what we have to do. Richard Commey is a {former} world champion for a reason. And we know that it’s going to be a great and exciting fight.”
