WBO world super lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez has revealed that he turned down a huge offer to face one of the biggest stars in boxing, Ryan Garcia.
Lopez has been frequently been linked with Garcia now the latter has made the move up to super lightweight with rumours that the pair could meet in Oscar De La Hoya's dream 'Super Bowl of Boxing' event.
Over recent days, Lopez has lifted the lid on a rejected $1.5m offer which was sent to him to face Garcia by Golden Promotions when speaking to reporters during Saturday's super middleweight clash between David Benavidez and Demetrius Andrade.
“When you’re the best, when you are the guy, when you bring major sponsors, endorsements, big major business deals, when you offer me a 1.5 [million dollars] stake in the piece—f—k you,” Lopez told Boxing News when asked about the Garcia fight offer.
"So yeah I declined the offer.”
Lopez then went onto explain his reasoning behind declining the offer.
"What’s next for me is worldwide takeover, that’s what’s next,” Lopez continued.
“I want to go to Italy, I want to take it to other places in different ways. I got a lot of fan base in Africa, too, I want to go out there. My whole thing is taking it global because nobody else is going to help me in the boxing game no more.”
While Lopez's next fight is yet to be announced, Garcia is back in action for the first time since his loss to Gervonta Davis in April when he faces Oscar Duarte this coming Saturday live on DAZN.