Teofimo Lopez has now vacated his WBO super-lightweight world title, giving the strongest indication yet that he is genuinely retired from boxing.
The young American star scored the second elite win of his career on Saturday night in New York as he dethroned Josh Taylor to win his belt after previously having beaten Vasyl Lomachenko in the division below.
At just 25, Lopez is now a two-weight world champion, but not only that, he's also achieved the rare feat of taking out the top guy in both divisions.
In between these two marquee wins though (in 2020 and 2023), life has not exactly been plain sailing for the youngster.
Lopez was stunned as he lost the lightweight belts he took from Lomachenko to George Kambosos Jr in his first defence in 2021.
He then only narrowly edged out Sandor Martin when on the comeback trail in 2022, with many feeling he was fortunate to get the decision, hence his underdog status coming into the Taylor fight.
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Outside of the ring Lopez has sparked additional concerns.
He expressed his desire to 'kill' Taylor and made further controversial comments about his broadcaster ESPN supposedly prioritising black fighters.
Lopez was seen clashing with his father/trainer Teofimo Lopez Sr during an interview on fight week and some even questioned whether he was mentally fit to fight.
Of course, in the end Lopez proved these doubters wrong with his marvellous performance to defeat Taylor.
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Immediately afterwards though, the 25-year-old announced to reporters at ringside that he is now retiring from boxing.
The young father is in the midst of a messy divorce from the mother of his child and set to fight for custody rights in court in the coming months.
Despite this, few believe his retirement claim and some even suggested he was taking pages out of the Tyson Fury playbook.
The WBC heavyweight world champion announced his 'retirement' after beating Dillian Whyte in April 2022, but never vacated his belt and put himself back in contention to fight again just four months later.
In contrast, Lopez confirmed on Thursday that he has indeed vacated his WBO super-lightweight world title.
This is the strongest sign yet that the 25-year-old might have genuinely quit the sport.
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