NEW YORK – Shakur Stevenson stunningly suggested the reason he thinks Teofimo Lopez Sr. missed the final press conference Thursday for his son’s showdown with Stevenson. Stevenson claimed Lopez’s father and trainer was “drugged out” on Wednesday night in the lobby of the nearby host hotel for “The Ring 6” card Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. DAZN’s Chris Mannix, who moderated the press conference, noted early in the press conference that the elder Lopez was “a little under the weather.” A disbelieving Stevenson saw it as an advantage that his grandfather and lifelong trainer, Wali Moses, was with him on the dais in The Theater at Madison Square Garden. “What I’m happy about is the fact that I got this team right here with me,” Stevenson said, also referring to manager James Prince. “You could see that my grandad is focused, I’m focused. We all locked in on the task. But Teofimo Senior is nowhere to be found. Last night he was in the lobby [of the hotel], drugged out, head over heels. So, at the end of the day, right now he’s emotional. That’s why he acting the way he’s acting. He’s mad about that.” Lopez laughed off Stevenson’s statement and urged the challenger for his Ring and WBO junior welterweight titles to focus on the task at hand. “You’re talking about my father, then there’s a problem,” Lopez said. “You should be focusing on me, B. You should be focusing on me.” When Stevenson and Moses repeatedly questioned his father’s whereabouts, Lopez provided a vague explanation. “Where my father at?,” Lopez asked. “Nah, nah, nah, nah. I kid you not, my father, they took him to the back. He’s downloading. He’s downloading.” Lopez Sr. is his son’s head trainer, but another veteran trainer, Stacey McKinley, will work his corner for their 12-round, 140-pound championship clash. There was no indication from Lopez that his father won’t join McKinley in his corner when he opposes Stevenson. That didn’t stop Stevenson and Moses from pressing Lopez for an answer. Stevenson also mockingly gifted Lopez’s father a bottle of tequila, wrapped in a brown paper bag. “Where he at now?,” Moses said. “He got a hangover, that’s where he at. He was in the lobby last night. … He probably still messed up from last night. You know it. You seen him last night. You seen him. I know everybody else seen him in the lobby last night.” The Brooklyn-born Lopez (22-1, 13 KOs) and the favored Stevenson (24-0, 11 KOs), a southpaw from Newark, New Jersey, will headline a card DAZN will offer on pay-per-view to non-subscribers in the United States ($69.99) and in the United Kingdom (£24.99). The event is included in DAZN’s Ultimate monthly plan for subscribers ($44.99 in the U.S.; £24.99 in the UK). Keith Idec is a senior writer and columnist for The Ring. He can be reached on X @idecboxing.