By Charles Brun: IBF lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez believes that WBC champion Devin Haney’s promoter Eddie Hearn is being disingenuous after he denied that he’s been contacted about a fight between Teofimo and Devin by his management. Lopez says Hearn is a “WEASEL.”
Lopez (15-0, 12 KOs) claims that an offer was made to Haney (24-0, 15 KOs) for a fight, but his management never heard a response from him. Teofimo says he asked his manager if he’d receive a reply from Hearn, and he said, “Nope.”
Lopez says he wants that fight against Haney, and it’s possible if Hearn reaches out to his management at Top Rank.
Teofimo says Haney was offered a fight
“Why are they such a weasel?” said Teofimo to IFL TV when asked if he has a message to Eddie Hearn and Haney when told that Hearn denied that Teofimo’s management contacted him about a fight.
“I got nobody else backing me up. The fans know it’s true about what I’m saying. There’s no fake in me. If you guys want to make the fight happen, I’m glad to make the fight happen. I want Devin Haney’s face to beat up my hands, and everybody else out there in the 135-pound division.
“I believe so,” said Teofimo when asked if he’ll be able to make a fight between him and Haney and Hearn after he beats Lomachenko. “I think they”re waiting for a big check. They can get it now.
“All the promoters are losing money right now, and all the businesses are losing money right now. There are no sports right now. ESPN and DAZN are losing money. I don’t think anybody wants to pay that much right now.
“Yeah, we have,” said Lopez when asked if he offered Devin Haney a fight. “We may not have offered it directly to him because he’s with Eddie Hearns and everything. But we did offer the fight and said, ‘Let’s make the fight happen,'” said Teofimo.
It’s unbelievable that Hearn wouldn’t pull the trigger on a fight between Haney and Teofimo. The only reason that Teofimo can come up with in trying to understand why Hearn hasn’t attempted to make the fight is he might want more money.
We TRIED to make the fight happen – Teofimo
“DAZN has talked about it before to make that type of fight happen,” said Teofimo on a match between him and Haney. “Eddie Hearns has talked about it, but now that we have a chance to make the fight happen, they don’t want to say anything.
“It’s stupid. There’s no point in even talking about it now because we tried to make the fight happen. I spoke to my manager. I told him, ‘Since I can’t make the fight with Loma.’ I was like, ‘Let’s make the Devin Haney fight happen.’
“Since they said, we can only fight the people in the United States right now. You got Ryan Garcia in the United States, you got Gervonta Davis in the United States, and you got Devin Haney. These are the people where fans think, ‘the lightweight division is on fire right now.’
“So why not make these fighters happen right now. I’m trying to do it, and I’ve talked to my manager. I told him, ‘Let’s try to make the fight happen right now.’ I was like, ‘Did Eddie Hearn contact you back?’ He said, ‘Nope,’ and I said, ‘Okay.’
“And then I do what I do, and talk my s*** like I always do. Next thing I know, Eddie Hearns writes to me and everything, and I told him to speak to my manager and Top Rank, and we can make this fight happen. I still haven’t heard from them,” said Teofimo on the Haney fight.
If Hearn is denying that Teofimo’s management made contact with him, then that’s a sign that he’s not interested in making that fight.
Teofimo: People want $10 million to fight me
“There was no response back,” said Teofimo on Eddie Hearn. “By them not responding back, it was my response right there. I try to make these fights happen for everybody.
“Like everybody else, I try to be the best that I can be by beating everybody that thinks they’re better than me. I like to step up to the plate, I’m a man of my word, and I like to fight.
“A lot of people won’t want to fight Teofimo for $3 million. They’ll want to fight him for $10 million or a little bit more. So we’ve got to wait and see.
“At least he acknowledges my right hand,” said Teofimo about Haney. “I’m not ducking him at all. I don’t know what he’s talking about. I’m the one with an actual belt, and I won it the rightful way, and he didn’t,” said Teofimo in explaining that he captured his title beating IBF champion Richard Commey. Haney received his belt outside of the ring by the WBC.
If Haney is holding out for $10 million for a fight with Teofimo, then we probably won’t see that clash happening soon. There isn’t that kind of money in a fight between Haney and Teofimo right now. It could be a while before boxing restarts, and there won’t be big money initially.
Lopez: Haney = Wanna-be-champion [WBC]
“I’ve been at 135 for six or seven years,” said Teofimo. “I’m getting bigger. I didn’t duck hm. I saw how they were taking their route, doing that WBC bulls*** tournament that they were trying to make up. But in reality, I’ve got to fight more times.
“So it’s like I’ve got to fight two or three more times and then fight Lomachenko for all of those belts or fight one more time and then fight for the belt. Then I fight Loma. I become a world champion; then, we unify for all four belts. That sounds so much better.
“Nobody is ducking you, kid,” said Teofimo about Haney. “He can say what he wants, but in reality, who is the one that’s trying to press the fight right now? It’s me. Do you know what the WBC stands for with him? ‘Wanna-be-champion.’ Devin Haney, if you’re watching this right now.
“You’re a WBC champion, a Wana-Be-Champion. You know when you roast somebody so bad that they can’t clap back, so they got to go the other route. That’s what he [Haney] did,” said Lopez.
It’s too bad that Haney didn’t win his WBC lightweight title the old fashioned way by taking on Vasiliy Lomachenko to earn it. The only way Haney will be validated in the eyes of the boxing fans if he beats one of the lightweight champions, which is hard to do during the lockdown.
Devin Haney is a “e-mail champion” – Teofimo
“With Devin Haney, he was supposed to fight Lomachenko,” said Teofimo. “I guess Top Rank spoke to Mauricio Sulaiman, the president of the WBC. They [Top Rank] said, ‘Hey, we want to boost Lomachenko to Franchise,’ and that’s what happened.
“So by them doing that, it made Haney from mandatory to WBC world champion. So they sent it to him via e-mail, and now he became a world champion through e-mail. After that, he defended it once with that dude Zaur Abdullaev.
“So he fought him, defended it, and after that, he got injured [after beating Alfredo Santiago]. He was supposed to defend against his mandatory Javier Fortuna.
“They took him out because the WBC has to keep their belt going. During that time, they put Devin Haney as Champion in Recess…He ended up getting his belt back [outside of the ring]. So now he’s [Haney] a two-time e-mail world champion,” said Teofimo.
Haney, 21, is young enough to where he’ll eventually win a world title inside the ring.
Lopez doubts Lomachenko will fight him
“They’re not going to make the fight happen, but if it happens, it happens,’ said Teofimo on a fight between him and Lomachenko. “The only thing is to lose 15 to 18 pounds, which is nothing. I’ve been working out, drinking a lot of water, and making sure I don’t blow up.
“I know that any of these fighters, whether it’s Devin Haney, Ryan Garcia, or Lomachenko. That’s the fight that everyone wants to see, and I want to see.
“I want to make that fight happen. For me to make these fights happen, I’ve to make sure that I stay in shape and make 135. I can’t blow up,” said Lopez.
WBA/WBC/WBO lightweight champion Lomachenko (14-1, 10 KOs) must fight Teofimo sooner or later. That’s the match that Top Rank wants, and it’ll earn Lomachenko a lot of money.
