I'm a world champion with just one defeat but this is why my career is at stake against Shakur Stevenson

Each fight has value. Regardless of whether one is competing in the first bout of the night with little to no fans in the seats or in the main event with a packed arena and fans screaming at the top of their lungs, there is something each man or woman is fighting for. 

In the mind of Teofimo Lopez (22-1, 13 KOs), he's competing for something more. It's just not about defending the Ring Magazine and WBO super lightweight titles against current WBC lightweight titleholder Shakur Stevenson at the sold-out Madison Square Garden, live globally on DAZN PPV.

Buy now here: Ring 6 - Lopez vs. Stevenson PPV for $69.99 / £24.99 or get a two PPV bundle for 20% off 

For the Brooklyn, NY native, it's more than the bright lights of "The World's Most Famous Arena" shining down on him when the bell rings with over 20,000 people screaming in adulation.

He's the heavy underdog according to DAZN Bet. coming into a fight where he's the champion, the king of 140 pounds, and beating the better opposition while going up against a guy who, yes, is a three-division champion, perhaps the most skilled boxer since Floyd Mayweather, but has never fought at 140 pounds and could be biting off a little more than he can chew in his own quest for history.

Lopez sees many people in and around boxing writing him off and feeling like it's a forgone conclusion that Stevenson will run him over and become a four-division champion. That's why the man known as "The Takeover" feels he's fighting for more significant stakes.

"My career (is at stake)," Lopez told DAZN News in an exclusive chat. "I think that I am a glitch in the Matrix.

 I do things from my heart. I beat from the beat of my drum, which is my heart and mind. And with that, I speak out there. I say certain things that shouldn't be said sometimes, and I say it.

Lopez's big fight awakening

That's just the character in me. If I see something wrong, I'm going to speak out on it because I think sometimes you got to take a cut within yourself to help the next ones not get cut throated.

"So someone's got to walk this path, and this journey, and someone's got to take the cuts for the next kids and next people that follow that path.

They know what to and what not to say and what to do and how not to do. That's it. You just got to lead by example. So my career is at stake with this one because I'm not meant to win. I'm not meant to win."

Why would a fighter, especially a two-division world champion, a man whose beaten Vasiliy Lomachenko and Josh Taylor, feel this way?

"Because I'm a problem," Lopez bluntly said. "I'm a really good problem though. I'm funny, honestly, without even trying to be funny.

"I'm funny. Maybe I'm just funny-looking. But it's all of it. It's an awakening. That's all it is. It's an awakening. Just trying to help awaken the next generation coming on.

"Just be you. Look, I've made tens of millions of dollars in my career. My teeth are still jacked up. It's like I've been chewing on a bunch of bricks.

"But this is just who I am as an individual. So I think that when it comes to it, I like that, and I think we need to see more of that in any industry, in any sport, in any outlet, entertainment. I think we need to see more authenticity in who that person is. Because the people that watch us are real people."

Watch López  vs. Stevenson only on DAZN PPV

Teofimo López and Shakur Stevenson headline the Ring VI fight night in New York, exclusively on DAZN PPV, this Saturday, January 31.

Purchase as a one-off PPV, or get included at no extra cost with a DAZN Ultimate Tier subscription, which includes minimum of 12 PPV events per year, plus another 185 fight nights. Monthly and annual options available.

Sign up for Ultimate for £22.99 in the UK / $44.99 in the U.S. More details here.