Teofimo Lopez can't wait for 2023, as he knows that by beating Spain's Sandor Martin will take him another step closer to becoming a two-weight world champion.
Lopez will face Sandor Martin this Saturday in New York in what will be a tough contest, the Spaniard produced one of the biggest surprises of last year by beating Mikey Garcia and retiring him, and will now face the former unified lightweight champion in an eliminator for the WBC 140lb title.
"I can't wait to show the world why I'm the Takeover and the best fighter out there, the most entertaining fighter in the fight game. Sandor Martin was the best opportunity at the time, everyone else was already dated, but we still wanted Sandor because he beat Mikey Garcia," Lopez said in an interview with DAZN.
"I know he prepared for this, even though he was scheduled to face me the following year, but now Christmas came early for Teofimo, so now let's win and put on a good show."
Although the outlook for 2023 looks bright, Lopez stated that he prefers to focus entirely on the weekend's fight in an attempt to avoid any slip-ups.
"There's a lot at stake here and I know the magnitude of it. I understand how big it is and I'm staying focused. The whole purpose now is to show I need to fight more, I need to be hungrier and that's what I've been feeling in this training camp... It's a fact that 140lbs will be better competition for me, that's what I wanted," Lopez continued
"I wanted to do it at 135 but those guys would rather be more famous than actually fight. But these guys (at 140) are real fighters, they want to make a big statement, and they want to be undisputed. They want to do it too”.
The 25-year-old is keen to bring back that old era of boxing where the best fought the best because in Lopez's eyes boxing needs help and not just from YouTubers.
"I know our sport needs help, we have YouTubers coming in to try and help the sport, but we as fighters, the ones that really do it, the ones that have real cuts and the bruises need to step up.
"We will beat anyone they put in front of us, every single one. Regis Prograis has nothing on us, Josh Taylor has nothing on us with his skills, and all these guys have nothing on us. We're the best and I'm going to prove it. That's why we're headlining MSG, like Sinatra said, `If you do it in NY you can do it anywhere'.
“I know at 140 these guys want to go for those big fights but do I see high IQ calibre fighters?
"No, but I see solid fighters that will make much better fights in the near future for me and everyone out there. Expect that, expect great fights, however, I will be on top. Because it's not about how hard you punch, it's not how fast you punch, it's how smart you are and that's what we are.
"We've learned and I've told everyone that I'm the Albert Einstein of boxing and I'm going to prove it."