By Sean Jones: Jorge Linares is reportedly in play for WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney’s next fight for April 17th. The Athletic says the former three-division world champion Linares (47-5, 29 KOs) could be the next fight for Haney (25-0, 15 KOs).
Linares would be an upgrade from the fighter Haney has been battling since he turned professional in 2015. You can’t get upset with Linares due to his superior hand speed, punching power, and experience of advantage over Haney.
Haney’s dad, Bill Haney, says #3 WBC Linares is actually the third option for Devin if he can’t get Ryan Garcia or Teofimo Lopez. Devin’s chances of getting King Ryan or Teo next are slim, so that puts Linares, 35, in the forefront.
Haney isn’t viewed as the ‘real champion’ with the WBC. Teofimo is seen as the legitimate champion in many boxing fans’ eyes due to him holding the Franchise title.
Linares third option for Haney
“Where are you, Javier Fortuna? We’ve been looking for you since ShoBox days,” said Bill Haney to Pep Talk UK. “Come out of the bushes. Where are you, Javier Fortuna? You can get it now.
“Linares, we got immense respect for Linares. He’s a former world champion. He’s always in the fight; he doesn’t come to lay down.
Linares would be a perfect match should we not get Ryan Garcia or Javier Fortuna. That’s both our mandatory’s.
Bill Haney is kidding himself if he seriously thinks he’s got a chance to set-up a fight between Haney and Ryan Garcia or Teofimo with Devin. Both of those fighters have other interests right now, and neither talks about wanting to fight Haney.
Undisputed lightweight champion Teofimo (16-0, 12 KOs) will be defending against his IBF mandatory George Kambosos Jr (19-0, 10 KOs) next in a fight that Top Rank wants to take place on June 12th.
Is Ryan Garcia afraid of Haney?
“I think Ryan Garcia would rather fight King Kong and run around Chicago in 20 below weather with Porkchop draws on being chased by a pack of lions than fight Devin Haney.
“There are no secrets in boxing. Devin’s talent speaks for itself inside and outside of the ring. He exemplifies a throwback fighter to his approach to the game,” Bill said.
Bill might not be too far off with his talk bout Ryan Garcia, not wanting any part of facing Haney. The reaction that Ryan shows when asked about fighting Haney is one of pure distaste.
He clearly wants nothing to do with Haney, even though it would be the biggest match of his career, and it would allow him to capture a belt. Some boxing fans believe Ryan is trying to cash out with the biggest payday he can get before being exposed and sent packing into retirement.
With Ryan, he’s got the option of becoming a YouTuber like the Paul brothers after his career fizzles and can make good money doing that until he ages out.
Teofimo doesn’t want that Devin smoke
“There’s a lot of inconsistencies with the Lopez’s,” said Bill Haney. “The people have been clamoring for that fight for some time.
“It’s out of respect for what the Lopez’s have accomplished that we’re considering fighting them. We don’t want to fight pushovers and people that we know we’re going to beat.
Haney doesn’t want to wait for 3 to 5 years before fighting Teofimo
“We don’t give him that respect, and we don’t give him three to five years, we don’t give him three to five months,” Haney said when told that Teofimo said that he wants to give Devin three to five years before fighting him to help save his career.
“We say let’s do it now and not next. You see the consistencies where he comes out and says he has to fight his mandatory [George Kambosos Jr] when we know a unification will trump all of that,” said Devin.
Teofimo is increasingly sounding like a fighter in which his recent success has gone to his head, turning him into a ducking diva.
Like I’ve said before, some fighters can handle success and keep their feet on the ground, whereas others turn them into a diva and wreck their careers. There’s an excellent chance that Teofimo will never realize his potential because of his out-of-control ego.
Teofimo will miss out on a lot of fights by dismissing the possibility of fighting the talented opposition so that he can cherry-pick easy fights against guys like Kambosos Jr.
Why didn’t Teofimo ask for an exception?
“We saw where Teofimo’s manager Dave McWaters came out with The Athletic where they could have had the opportunity to file an exception and fight Devin.
“Then you hear Teofimo say after that, ‘Well, I’m sitting here at 135 waiting on Josh Taylor and Jose Ramirez, which a shout out to Josh Taylor, who advised him to clean out his division and not just bull s***.’
“When you’ve got the respect of your peers, then that’s what you’ll hear. You’ll hear something like that from Josh Taylor.
And when we see Teofimo talking about waiting on someone that is considering fighting him for someone that is foaming at the mouth, salivating about fighting him in Devin Haney,” said Bill.
Teofimo choosing not to get an exemption from the International Boxing Federation to bypass his IBF mandatory Kambosos shows you that he didn’t want to fight Haney. It’s obvious why Teofimo doesn’t want to face Devin.
That’s a tough fight for Teofimo, and he could lose to Haney, and that would wreck his ‘Takeover’ dreams of being the next star.
The fact that Teofimo’s own promoter Bob Arum isn’t showing a desire to put him in with Haney shows you the worry they have about him winning.
Teofimo is a good fighter, but he has low stamina and falls to pieces when he’s put under consistent pressure. We saw that in Teo’s fights with Masayoshi Nakatani and Vasily Lomachenko.
Teofimo is talking about leaving the 135-lb division soon after he faces Kambosos Jr, so this might be the end of any possibility of him taking on the Four Kings.
We now know that Teofimo not only chose not to give Lomachenko a rematch, he also sidestepped Haney.