Teofimo Lopez put on a boxing master class when he beat Vasyl Lomachenko ... but the 23-year-old star tells TMZ Sports it's actually him who learned from the former pound-for-pound king.
Teo and Loma don't like each other, but beef squashed now, right? Nope. Lopez had a message for the Ukrainian star ... "Thanks Loma, even though, f*** you, but thank you."
Teofimo -- who was a 3.5 to 1 underdog -- shocked the sports world when he beat Lomachenko via a unanimous decision win in October 2020 in Las Vegas.
The huge win meant Lopez was a unified lightweight champion ... and the scary part is he says he's still getting better.
"I told everyone years ago, I said, 'If you don't get me now, it'll be too late.' And I said that years ago and I'm sticking to it."
Teo says he'll soon be at a level where none of his opposition can touch him -- and that's in part because of his experience against Loma.
It's not about Lopez getting faster or stronger, he tells us ... "It's more so the opposition and the amount of knowledge I grabbed off of Lomachenko himself."
Lopez -- who's fighting undefeated George Kambosos Jr. on June 5 -- is still only in his early 20's ... but says he's already preparing for life after boxing.
His latest business venture ... liquor. Teo partnered with One With Life tequila ... all in the hopes of securing his family's financial future.
Hey, ask George Clooney if tequila's a good investment!!