Theofimo Lopez is now in a state of great frustration as he lost to his opponents in last week's clash with George Campos Jr. and fell from the top to the bottom overnight. Before the game, Lopez was regarded as a favorite to win the lottery, but he suffered a defeat, and now more information has been revealed, that is, before the battle with Camposos, Lopez was in great trouble.
In the 30 hours of weighing before the game, Lopez looked good, weighing up to the upper limit of 135 pounds in the lightweight, but it is said that Lopez had a hard time controlling his weight in this range, which made him suffer, according to ESPN columnist Mark Kriegel observed that boxers will be fully hydrated after weighing to increase the on-site weight, but Lopez weighed very badly, he drank some bottled substances, hoping to eliminate the impact of weight control, Instead of working well, the results were worse because Lopez was feeling very unwell.
Lopez said: "When I started hydrating, it got worse, I had asthma from the age of 6 and at first I thought it was just an old problem, but it didn't turn out that way. ”
Despite his very poor health, Lopez refused to seek medical attention before the war began, knowing that the battle with Cambossos had been postponed several times for various reasons, and that if it was postponed again, the public would completely lose patience.
Lopez said: "In the restaurant, everyone wanted me to relieve my discomfort by hiccups, they saw that my neck was swollen, my voice changed, everyone was a little worried, I wanted to tell my father that I should go to the hospital, but knew that this would cause the game to be cancelled." ”
According to Lopez, treatment was urgent and necessary at the time, but there were less than 24 hours left before the start of the game, and even if the battle was not cancelled after the medical treatment, he could not return to the boxing world on time, not to mention the battle with Camposos, Lopez received the highest honorarium of his career - $3.1 million in appearances.
Lopez slept for a few hours, but woke up still not getting better, he said: "My neck, chest, throat is very sore, I can only play like this." ”
At the beginning of the battle with Camposos, Lopez looked fierce, his continuous punches continued to attack, it seemed that he could knock down Campos at once, but at the end of the first round, Lopez was hit by the opponent's counterattack, and was knocked down for the first time in his career.
Subsequently, the situation became more and more unfavorable for Lopez, and finally after the two sides fought the whole game, Cambossos won with points. Immediately after the defeat, Lopez was taken to the hospital, where Dr. Linda Dahl, who treated him, was shocked by the diagnosis.
Dahl said: "Lopez was risking his life in the game, and he had problems breathing, like someone tied a 300-pound weight to your chest, Lopez's neck and chest felt like he was caught in a tong, and that's how he fought. ”
Dahl analyzed Lopez's situation from a professional point of view, she said: "The air revolves around Lopez's chest wall, heart and neck, there should be no air in these places, if his neck or chest is hit at that time, in some case there will be a lung collapse (pneumothorax), at which point Lopez will fall directly and he will not be able to breathe at all." ”
After learning about this situation, Lopez admitted that his state at that time was not 100%, but he did not expect it to be so serious. Lopez said: "I thought it was just asthma because I had fought asthma before and if anyone knew about it, the race would have been cancelled, but I decided not to do it, there was a lot of pressure at that time and I didn't want to hear people complaining about the postponement of the race. ”
Given the actual condition of Lopez's body, Dr. Dahl advised Lopez to take a full recuperation and not even travel by plane. Dahl said: "I don't know how he lasted 12 rounds without being able to breathe, and it was dangerous for Lopez to fly because there was air in the wrong parts. ”
After winning last year's victory over Vasily Lomachenko to reach the top, Lopez's falling speed and process surprised the outside world, during which many thorny problems needed to be dealt with, such as being isolated from illness and being separated from his wife who was several months pregnant, etc. In short, in the past 12 months, Lopez was miserable: "The battle with Camposos was not the real me, I have always tried to maintain a positive attitude, but unfortunately I have always lost this year." ”