This response begs the obvious explanation. Shakur Stevenson didn’t have a lucky night and didn’t benefit from the chaos. He controls distance, eliminates angles, and eliminates offense piece by piece. Even the best-laid plans fail when a fighter can’t regain his footing or find clean air. This is not disobedience. This is neutralization.

Advanced follow-ups only reinforced this pattern. Instead of revisiting what Stevenson took away, he pointed outward. Media chatter, rumors and discussions about future fights. There was even speculation that he himself skipped the press conference. Failure is a product of distraction and atmosphere, not what happens between the ropes.

At one point, Senior admitted that his son was “very easy to piss off.” This is unconscious telling. If that’s true, then the corner’s job becomes more important, not less. In elite combat, focus is not a luxury. It’s the team’s responsibility to create it and protect it. Shifting that burden back to the boxer after the fact sounds less like honesty and more like insulation.

This isn’t a new gesture from Lopez’s camp. When everything goes well, success is seen as proof of genius and destiny. When they go poorly, explanations tend toward fluke, tension, or unseen interference. The idea that the opponent solved the problem but left no viable answers should never arise in the conversation.

The suggestion that Teofimo’s powers were “missing” fits the same pattern. Power doesn’t go away on its own. When a fighter can’t land, seal off a space, or find a predictable target, it disappears. Stevenson’s feet and eyes eliminated the symptoms early on and never returned.

Blaming the Internet, rumors, or poor pacing can create a siege mentality that can feel protective in the moment. It also blocks the only valid path forward, which is to take an honest look at what technically fails and why.

Unless Lopez Sr. stops shifting responsibility away from preparation and onto the ghosts in the room, the ceiling for improvement remains lower than needed and that’s a matter of choice, not bad luck.