UNIFIED lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez admits he learned a great deal from his showdown with Vasyl Lomachenko, but he insists he still doesn’t like the Ukrainian.
Lopez shocked the world last October by edging out Loma in their blockbuster lightweight title unification bout, which he won via unanimous decision.
The pair have been engaged in a bitter war of words ever since that night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
But Lopez, 23, admits his overall game has benefitted from sharing the ring with the two-time Olympic gold medallist.
When asked about his prime being anywhere on the horizon, he told TMZ: “More so of the opposition and the amount of knowledge I grabbed off of Lomachenko himself.”
The Takeover added: “Yeah [I learned stuff from fighting him]. Just like I learned from everybody that I faced.
“But mainly, yeah, with Lomachenko, I did. There’s a lot of things that I grabbed off of him.
“We already know what we were going to do in camp and going into the fight.
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“But then there was nice things that I grabbed and now I take it into my own craft now.”
Lopez is grateful for the extra wisdom his bout with Lomachenko has bestowed on him and was quick to thank the former champ for teaching him some valuable lessons.
But he made sure to let him know they won’t be on good terms any time soon.
He continued: “Thanks, Loma. Even though f**k you, but thank you.”
Lopez’s next outing is expected to be against Japan’s Masayoshi Nakatani, although their meeting has not yet been confirmed.
Lopez has, however, revealed he’ll be back in the ring in June.
He said: “June 5th in Miami, that’s when I’ll be fighting.
“It’s great, man, and I’m excited to bring it back to everybody, the sport, that I love.”
