Josh Taylor vs. Teofimo Lopez: B/R Staff Predictions | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

All of a sudden, October of 2020 feels like a long time ago.

The country was still in the grips of a pandemic. We had a different president in the White House.

Heck…Aaron Rodgers was still a roster member in good standing with the Green Bay Packers.

And Teofimo Lopez was the biggest thing in boxing after upsetting Vasiliy Lomachenko.

He bit down on his mouthpiece in the 12th round, rode out a stirring rivalry from the Ukrainian, and took his place as the premier inhabitant of the lightweight division.

Since then, well, not so much.

His would-be "Takeover" of the sport abruptly ended with a loss to prohibitive underdog George Kambosos Jr. 13 months later that prompted dozens of conspiracy theories.

Another nine months preceded a winning but the hardly transcendent defeat of Pedro Campa one division up, and Lopez's next outing at 140—a disputed split decision over Sandor Martin in December—left him (and much of the fanbase) wondering if he still had it.

Those aren't the kinds of questions to be asking before stepping in with Josh Taylor.

The "Tartan Tornado" is a legit commodity in the weight class, beat a series of elite-level opponents in copping all the recognized title belts and seems energized at the idea of squaring off against a high-profile interloper on said interloper's home turf in New York City.

Simply put, he does everything that Lopez does. Only just as good or better than Lopez does it.

That friends, is a winning recipe.

Prediction: Taylor by TKO, Round 10

- Lyle Fitzsimmons