Lopez returns with victory over Campa I Taylor, Catterall on his radar

Teofimo Lopez made a winning return to the ring as he stopped Pedro Campa in the seventh round at Resorts World Events Center in Las Vegas.

Lopez, 25, was making his debut as a super-lightweight in his first fight since suffering the only loss of his career when he was beaten by George Kambosos Jr last November, which saw the Australian snatch the WBA (Super), IBF and WBO lightweight belts he would later relinquish to Devin Haney in June.

Moments after putting Campa on the canvas at the start of the seventh, Lopez (17-1, 13 KOs) obliterated his outmatched opponent with a flurry of punches, prompting referee Tony Weeks to stop the fight at the 2:14 mark. Mexican Campa dropped to 34-2-1.

“I am grateful for this, I have returned,” Lopez said. “I got to work a little bit more on some things, but overall it was good.

“It’s been a while. There was a lot on my mind. I nearly almost died [in] the last fight, so that was weighing on my mind, I had to clear it out.

“Going in there, I’m not afraid to die, but the last thing I want to do is not have my son have a father.”

American Lopez, nicknamed ‘The Takeover’, spoke about the possibility of taking on either Josh Taylor or Jack Catterall in the UK before the fight, while his move up to 140lbs has coincided with that of Ryan Garcia.

He said: “I don’t care who it is. It could be Ryan Garcia, Taylor, Catterall, I don’t care, I want to be at the O2 Arena. I know I have so much love over there and I just need to be over there and embrace that environment and enjoy the energy because you guys are diehard boxing fans.”