Teofimo Lopez will likely not be involved in Turki Alalshikh-sponsored events including those involving The Ring and Riyadh Season. The decision follows after the Saudi chairman deemed Lopez too disrespectful to be included on the card, citing comments made about his religion and country as the primary reason. However, despite Lopez’ ban from Alalshikh’s events, another fighter in Ryan Garcia seems to have narrowly evaded similar punishment despite making similar, and arguably more horrific comments surrounding, Alalshikh’s Islam religion.
WBO super lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez (22-1, 13 KO’s) has become well-known for using racism to promote his fights but has yet to face any serious repercussions, with the WBO’s own stated intentions to investigate the fighter’s racism not [yet] resulting any punishment.
However, Turki Alalshikh, arguably the most powerful figure in boxing at the moment, appears to no longer tolerate the fighter’s presence after he confirmed in a recent interview that the American champion would be barred from The Ring or Riyadh Season events; similar to lightweight contender Floyd Schofield whose father’s antics resulted in the fighter also being banned from the aforementioned cards.
“I don’t want to go into the details of money and numbers, but if you don’t respect my country and my religion, you will not have a chance to do business with me,” Alalshikh told ThaBoxingVoice after Lopez’ name was brought up.
When made aware of the wish by IBF 140-pound champion Richardson Hitchins (20-0, 8 KO’s) to make a fight with Teofimo Lopez, Alalshikh further affirmed he would “not be involved” in making the potential unification bout ― by extension confirming his stance to bar Lopez from any of his events.
Notably, Lopez only recently made an appearance on The Ring’s second May 2nd show where he carved out a unanimous decision (UD) victory over Arnold Barboza Jr.
Alalshikh’s stance appears to be derived from comments made by Lopez where he vented his frustrations about not fighting Devin Haney ― despite reportedly rejecting a contract to fight him for $11 million ― and seemed to make fun of Turki Alalshikh and Prophet Mohammed; a significant figure in Islam.
“Call me Teebo. Can’t call me Teebo, call me Mo,” Lopez said in a video he released on social media.
“Mo money more problems, call me Mohammed.“
Lopez further grew a rift between him and Alalshikh after dancing to the tune of Bob Marley’s ‘Is This Love’ and remarking that he would hold Alalshikh’s hand like Terence Crawford.
These comments follow up after Teofimo Lopez arguably already ruined his own chances with Alalshikh by directly referring to him as a “Dicktator” in a now-deleted Twitter/X post in late May.
Alalshikh’s own response was simple and short as he emphasized his own maturity:
Despite Lopez’ antics having clearly not endeared itself to Alalshikh, Ryan Garcia (24-2, 20 KO’s), who coincidentally headlined the same May 2nd card Lopez competed on, seems to have avoided Alalshikh’s wrath.
Notably, Garcia unleashed a vehement bigot-filled rant directed at both African-Americans and Muslims that included assertions about the latter that Islam was based on pedophilia in 2024.
Against all odds, Garcia would return a year later to headline the May 2nd card while also being featured on the red carpet that signified The Ring’s first-ever held award ceremony. As the owner of The Ring, Alalshikh’s inclusion of Garcia raised some eyebrows given Garcia’s aforementioned tirade and his then-active suspension by the New York State Athletic Commission after failing his drug test in 2024.
