Teófimo López
Real name: Teófimo Andrés López Rivera
Nickname(s): The Takeover
Born/Date of Birth: July 30, 1997
Place of Birth: Brooklyn, New York, United States
Weight(s): Lightweight
Height: 5 ft 8 in (173 cm)
Reach: 68 1⁄2 in (174 cm)
Nationality: American, Honduran
Stance: Orthodox
Spouse: Cynthia Lopez (m. 2019)

Teófimo Andrés López Rivera (born July 30, 1997) is an American professional boxer. He is the current unified lightweight world champion, having held the IBF title since 2019 and the WBA (Super), WBO, and Ring magazine titles since October 2020. As an amateur he represented Honduras at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

As of October 2020, Lopez is ranked as the world's second best active lightweight by The Ring magazine, Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, BoxRec and ESPN.

Early life
Lopez was born on July 30, 1997 in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Honduran immigrants. An active sportsman since a young age, boxing came to him naturally.[according to whom?] His father and trainer, Teofimo Lopez Sr., started training him at the age of 6.

Amateur career
Lopez won the U.S. Olympic Trials but Carlos Balderas had already secured the United States' sole lightweight entry into the tournament as AIBA's World Series of Boxing champion, so Lopez was aware entering the trials that at best he could only qualify as an alternate for Balderas (who lost in the Olympic quarterfinals). Lopez was able to qualify for the Honduran team, where his parents are from, and reached the finals of the Olympic qualifying tournament for the Americas to earn his place in Rio. Lopez also won the 2015 National Golden Gloves. López competed in the men's lightweight event at the 2016 Summer Olympics representing Honduras, where he was defeated in the tournament by eventual silver medalist Sofiane Oumiha.

López had a reported amateur record of 150-20.

Professional career
López signed with Top Rank in October 2016, and made his debut on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao vs. Jessie Vargas fight in November of the same year. He announced himself to the world stage in December 2018, by beating veteran Mason Menard via a knockout of the year candidate.

In his next fight, Lopez, already ranked #9 by the WBA, #11 by the WBC and #10 by the WBO, faced another boxing veteran in Diego Magdaleno, another fight that ended in a brutal knockout for the Honduran. He attracted some controversy after his exuberant celebration with Magdaleno still down on the canvas.

On July 19, 2019, Lopez who was ranked #4 by the IBF at the time, fought undefeated Japanese boxer Masayoshi Nakatani, who was ranked #3 by the IBF in a final eliminator for the IBF World Lightweight title. He won the fight by unanimous decision and went on to challenge IBF titlist Richard Commey. Lopez won the IBF title in spectacular fashion after connecting on Commey with a big right hand, and finishing him with a second round TKO.

In September 2020, Lopez agreed to fight WBO, WBA and WBC (franchise) champion, Vasiliy Lomachenko, on October 17th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. It was the first major fight since the COVID-19 pandemic. With no live audience, Lopez beat the Ukrainian by unanimous decision to unify the lightweight division and maintain his unbeaten record.