Arnold Barboza Jr, (26-0) is chomping at the bit to face unified lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez (16-0). 

The two camps exchanged words earlier this year and have continued to exchange verbal assaults. 

On a recent appearance on the The Fighter’s Voice podcast, Lopez’s father and trainer called Barboza a “tune-up” which prompted Barboza to call in himself and confront the elder Lopez. 

“Now it is worse than ever. Before, I entertained it where I wanted to fight him but now it is even worse. It is bad blood. It is all because of his dad. I wanted to fight him before and mentioned him out of respect but because of his dad now I want to f--- him up. When his dad started calling me a tune-up that really made me mad so I spoke to him on that show.  It was good that we got on the phone like that and spoke to him that way. They talk a lot of sh!t and they don’t have any respect. His pops or him. Now I know why he doesn’t have any respect. It is his pops,” Barboza told BoxingScene.com. 

Lopez returns to the ring on November 27th against his mandatory challenger George Kambosos Jr.

Even though Lopez is a big favorite in the fight, Barboza isn’t so sure he will leave the ring with his hand raised. 

“If he even does win that fight. I don’t know if he will. Kambosos trains hard and is a good fighter.  If Teofimo wins and wants to go to 140 I told him I would welcome him with open arms,” Barboza stated while also saying he is willing to postpone his next fight to welcome him to the super lightweight division.  

“If they want to make it happen then lets do it. I will wait as long as he needs. I can wait till February or March if he needs more time - but I am not going to waste my time chasing this kid either,” said Barboza. 

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