By Chris Williams: Eddie Hearn has confirmed that Matchroom never received any contact from the management of IBF lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez for a unification fight with WBC champ Devin Haney.
Teofimo (15-0, 12 KOs) stated on Wednesday night that his management had reached out to Hearn about a unification fight with Haney, but they never received a response.
Would Arum let Haney fight Teofimo?
The comment from Teofimo was surprising because it seems so unlikely that Top Rank promoter Bob Arum would reach out to make a fight between him and Haney. Teofimo still hasn’t fought Arum’s fighter WBA/WBC/WBO lightweight champion Vasiliy Lomachenko.
That’s the fight that Arum wants to put together, but he can’t right now due to the travel restrictions. Lomachenko is in his native Ukraine, and he can’t come over to the U.S right now to face Teofimo. It’s highly unlikely that Arum would let Teofimo fight Haney BEFORE facing Lomachenko.
Teofimo is a guy that Arum is grooming into a star. While it wouldn’t be a devastating loss for Teofimo if he gets beaten by Lomachenko, but it would be if Haney defeats him.
Haney (24-0, 15 KOs) replied quickly last night, labeling Teofimo, 22, as a “liar” and “crazy” for him to believe his own lies about.
“Teofima is a liar & I’m starting to think that he’s crazy he actually believes these lies he tells,” said Haney on his Twitter in responding to Teofimo saying that his team had contacted Hearn about a fight with him.
. @TeofimoLopez – you must have put an S on Hearn because no one has EVER reached out to me about a fight with @Realdevinhaney – WBC and IBF unification if you want it next then let’s go – it’s a hell of a fight! pic.twitter.com/IOvVX7FNCx
— Eddie Hearn (@EddieHearn) May 14, 2020
So there it is from Hearn, saying that there hasn’t been anyone that has “EVER” reached out to him for a unification fight between IBF champ Teofimo and WBC champion Haney.
Teofimo says Hearn was contacted about Haney fight
“We’re trying to do a fight with Devin Haney, but they didn’t come back to us,” said Teofimo on his Twitter. “If we can’t make the Loma fight happen, then let’s make the Devin Haney fight happen. We reached out to Eddie Hearns, but we haven’t gotten a response back. These guys say they want the smoke, but they don’t,” said Teofimo.
The question is, did someone from Teofimo’s team tell him that they had contacted Hearn to try and make the fight, or is this something that Teo came up with himself? If there’s a communication problem between Teofimo and his management, then he needs to get on the same page as them.
If Teofimo wants the fight with Ryan Garcia or Devin Haney, then he needs to get on the phone to Arum and tell him to set up a battle with one of them. I don’t know that Arum will do that because it would be risky.
It’s better for Teofimo and Top Rank that he loses to the 32-year-old Lomachenko (14-1, 10 KOs) than it would for him to get beaten by the 21-year-old Haney. Lomachenko is such a good fighter that it wouldn’t hurt Tefoimo in getting beaten by him compared to if he loses to Haney.
Haney wants to beat up Teofimo
“Teofimo Lopez, if you say I got my belt in the email? Tell them why you ducked me in the WBC Boxing tournament and chose to go another direction? NO skills and a big right hand are nothing special to me,” said Devin Haney.
“EddieHearn, I’m cool with everybody kicking back at home and watching me beat him up? #HaneyLopez #WBC #IBF #Unification.”
It would be a good idea for Hearn to attempt to put together a fight between Haney and Tefoimo now. With Loamchenko out of the country, Teofimo is going to need to fight against somebody because he can’t just sit and while the top fighters are busy with their careers. Teofimo can always contact Top Rank and try to put together a fight with Haney.
“Carl Moretti, how did Loma get his franchise title? Because that’s when I got my belt! It was right after Teo ducked the tournament to fight for another belt to fight Loma for. Lol, y’all tried to swerve me and got swerved,” said Haney.