JUST IN: Star Boxer Teofimo Lopez — Just Over a Year After Nearly Dying in the Ring — Announces Retirement

In the move that is sure to disrupt the current boxing hierarchy, junior welterweight fighter Teofimo Lopez announced his retirement at the age of 25 Monday.

Lopez — appearing on ESPN’s This Just In with Max Kellerman — made the announcement just days after a dominant win over Josh Taylor.

“I have a lot of ideas,” Lopez said of his career outside the ring. “I have a lot of things in mind for the sport of boxing. I really can’t do that if I’m always in the gym training and preparing for another upcoming fight. So I’m really just focusing on that task right now.”

In November 2021, Lopez lost to Australia’s George Kambosos Jr. in a fight for the undisputed lightweight championship. Lopez claimed he struggled to breathe, and it was later revealed he dealt with air in his chest — a condition known as pneumomediastinum — during the fight. Doctors said he was lucky to be alive.

After that fight, however, Lopez moved up to junior welterweight and won three straight against Pedro Campa, Sandor Martin and now Taylor.

Kellerman was stunned at the idea of Lopez retiring in his prime. After winning the junior lightweight belts, Lopez could have earned hundreds of millions of dollars with several big-name fights. Several of the best lightweight boxers — including Devin Haney, Gervonta Davis, and Vasiliy Lomachenko — have eyed the junior welterweight division.

“So you’re telling me Devin Haney — the undisputed lightweight champion of the world — who’s moving up to 140 (pounds) — same promoter, so it’s easy to make — he doesn’t get you off your couch?” Kellerman asked him.

Still, Lopez was firm in his decision. As the first male boxer to become undisputed champion in two different divisions in the four-belt era, he expressed satisfaction with his resume.

“I don’t know, man,” he said. “It doesn’t get me going.”

Watch above via ESPN.