Teofimo Lopez has some high praise for a promotional stablemate that he envisions fighting in the future.

Lopez, the former unified lightweight champion and current junior welterweight contender, said in a recent interview that he expects to fight two-division titlist and current lightweight contender Shakur Stevenson sometime down the line. Both fighters are 25 and are promoted by Top Rank Inc., the Las Vegas-based outfit headed by Bob Arum.

Asked about a showdown with Stevenson, Lopez said while he does not expect the fight to happen anytime soon he nevertheless believes the matchup is inevitable.

“Don’t be friends with no fighters,” Lopez told Punsh Drunk Boxing. “You’ll have to fight them eventually. Me and Shakur will have to fight eventually. In the meantime, his boss ain’t gonna let me fight me yet. He’s a good fighter. He’s a great fighter.”

It is not clear whom Lopez, a native of Brooklyn, New York, was referring to by “boss.” Stevenson is managed by music label guru J Prince.

Lopez, far from excoriating his potential foe, had mainly positive things to say about the southpaw from Newark, New Jersey. Stevenson is coming off a successful lightweight debut in April, when he stopped Japan’s Shuichiro Yoshino in six rounds at Prudential Center in his hometown of Newark.

“I think he’s gonna conquer the ’35 division for sure,” Lopez said. “I’ve had him up there with Devin Haney. He’s calling the guys—no one wants to fight him. I know Shakur, man, he don’t like being second. Don’t like being none of that. He goes after the guy that goes after the guy, that’s really it.”

Lopez is set to challenge WBO 140-pound titlist Josh Taylor in a 12-round bout this Saturday night at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Sean Nam is the author of Murder on Federal Street: Tyrone Everett, the Black Mafia, and the Last Golden Age of Philadelphia Boxing