Lightweight contender Edis Tatli had some interesting words to describe Teofimo Lopez ahead of their fight at Madison Square Garden.
Tatli spoke with Fightful during fight week and with the help of a translator, Tatli said he was excited to be fighting in the United States in a big fight against Lopez.
The fight against Lopez is an intriguing one as both men are reasonably close to potentially challenging for a lightweight world title with a victory. The twice-beaten Finnish boxer, who is the current EBU European champion at 135 pounds, sees this fight as his ticket to a world title.
“That’s how I see this fight. Winning this fight means the winner will most probably fight for a world title,” Tatli said.
But when asked about his opponent, the unbeaten Lopez, Tatli didn't need his translator to express his thoughts on the rising star, whose highlight-reel knockouts and victory celebrations have drawn a lot of attention of social media.
“Teofimo is like white Adrien Broner. Talks too much,” Tatli said.
All jokes aside, Tatli believes he is ready for the challenge that Lopez brings. When asked about a prediction, Tatli simply responded by saying that he is prepared to go 12 rounds and if he can knock out Lopez, then so be it.
“I don’t want to go to any predictions. It can end before the distance or it can go the distance, we are prepared for 12 rounds," Tatli's translator said.
The fight will be a part of the Terence Crawford vs. Amir Khan pay-per-view card at Madison Square Garden on April 20. Fightful will have live coverage of the entire card from New York City. You can watch the full interview in the video above.
