NEW YORK (April 19, 2019)--Tomorrow night, undefeated lightweight sensation, Teofimo Lopez (12-0, 10 KOs) continues his quest towards a world championship as he takes on highly-regarded European champion Edis Tatli (31-2, 10 KOs) in the 12-round co-feature of the highly anticipated Terence Crawford - Amir Khan Pay-Per-View card at Madison Square Garden. The fight will be contested for the NABF Lightweight title, which is held by Lopez. Lopez, the 2016 Olympian representing Honduras, has risen through the lightweight division at a meteoric rate as he scored 10 sensational knockouts in his 12 wins. Saturday night will be the next progression as he is the chief support bout on a major pay-per-view card in the world's most famous arena. This will be the 5th appearance for Lopez at the Garden property (two fights in the big arena and two in the theater), and with a win, a Summer world title fight could be on the agenda. In Tatli, Lopez is facing a tough and durable fighter, who has a record of 31-2 with 10 knockouts. Those two losses were by majority and split decisions. Tatli has competed for the lightweight world title and has held the European title for most of the last half-decade. Lopez was 135 pounds and Tatli was 134.8 lbs at Friday's weigh-in Lopez is managed by Split-T Management and promoted by Top Rank. Photos by Mikey Williams / Top Rank
I always wondered about the name "Edis Tatli", has a distinctively non-Finnish sound to it (how do I know what typical Finnish names sound like? I listen to a lot of metal..) but literally just yesterday discovered that he is ethnically Kosovar/Albanian. During the Yugoslav Wars his family settled in Helsinki, although it wasn't particularly a friendly destination for Muslim refugees then, as now. Any port in a storm, I guess/
I expect this will be Teó's coming out party; I'm just annoyed with Top Rank for making this a $70 PPV. Far more people would be exposed to López if this were on regular ESPN.
And funny enough, he made it to the elites of Finnish boxing. I have seen plenty of his fights, and boy can he fight! But I feel he will always come up short of the top 10 guys.(no shame in that, all things considered)
He's definitely a rock-solid Euro-level scalp, as you said - and dominating him would prove López is on his way to being ready for world class prime time competition... As far as ethnic/native born Finns, though - I guess that means Robbe Helenius is still by default the p4p #1? He's also probably the country's GOAT, all things considered? The only real argument would be Olli Mäki (who challenged Davey Moore for the world featherweight title and was the inaugural EBU super lightweight champion)...but otherwise... can't think of anyone. I remember some years ago there was some hype around that kid Ville Piispanen, but he went off-rails in a hurry ...started racking up losses and then disappeared.
Kinda surprised you didn't know this, it's been known since he's been around. I always found Helenius name to be kinda odd too, sounds Greek, or like some ancient Roman gladiator.
Actually come to mention it, Robbe was born in Sweden. Although yeah his name doesn't sound particularly Swedish either. So then Finnish-born GOAT has to be Mäki? Or have Juho Haapoja or anyone else (Asikainen? Jussi Koivula?) done enough to be in the conversation with him?
TBH I only know of Asikainen so can't comment but checking these guys out, kinda stunned this is the best Finland have produced. For some reason I had this impression that Finland used to be a boxing power.
He may be ready to shine, but Tatli will make him look very human, and beatable. I doubt this ends in a knockout, and it wouldn't shock if it ends in split decision.
Yeah, same, figured there would be at least a couple of recognizable old-timer names like how the Swedes have Ingo Johannsen ...but, nope, closest is Mäki. Sweden has the much stronger output, both historically and in the present day scene. Erik Skoglund, Badou Jack, Otto Wallin, etc.
Just from the Baltic region alone, Tatli is among the most accomplished in recent years. Not many make it to the EBU belt, let alone win it. But I always felt he should have stuck to the EBU belt until he got a title shot. I don´t see how a fight vs Lopez makes more financial sense than defending his EBU belt at home. Same **** happened with Alexander Miskirtchian of Belgium. He was a solid guy who made it to the European belt. He defended it a few times and went to challenge the world. Luckily for him, he did get a title shot and to his credit, it was a heck of a performance(against Evgeny Gradovich in China). But it was clear that he wasn't, and likely never was going to be ready for that stage. And he never recovered. Not a single meaningful win since. If you have the damn EBU belt, don't just give it up.
For me this will be the definitive Lopez fight. I expect Tatli if not to beat him, but at least to disillusion a lot of those on the Lopez’ hype train.
