Teófimo López: ‘Anything that has haunted me from the past, I’ve let all those things go’

Ahead of his blockbuster Madison Square Garden clash with Shakur Stevenson on Saturday night, boxing's most mercurial star reflects on pressure, purpose and parenthood

Teofimo Lopez's boxing career has unfolded in untidy extremes, and few places have captured those contradictions like Madison Square Garden. It's the building where he boat-raced Richard Commey inside two rounds to win his first world title aged 22, saw his fast track to superstardom abruptly derailed as a heavy favorite, then returned two years later to dismantle Josh Taylor as the underdog and stamp himself as a two-division champion. Now on Saturday night, when he defends his junior welterweight title against Shakur Stevenson in a clash of arguably the two best American fighters active today, the Garden may finally make it clear which version of Lopez is here to stay.

It's the magnitude of it all," says Lopez, one of boxing's most charismatic and mercurial personalities, filling my screen with warmth and effortless third-person bravado during the final days of his training camp in Hollywood, Florida. Who's going to really set the tone for the sport? You've got Shakur Stevenson, who wants that baton, and you've got Teofimo Lopez who believes he's the better representation for boxing."