By Jeff Aronow: Devin Haney is furious at Teofimo Lopez in reacting to comments he made this week about him having attempted to set up a fight with him recently. Haney (25-0, 15 KOs) says Teofimo is a “Liar” and that he never made any attempt at putting together a fight with him at any time.
IBF/WBA/WBC Franchise/WBO lightweight champion Teofimo (16-0, 12 KOs) called Haney an “email” champion this week during a media workout, and he says he’s going to fight him next to relieve him of his WBC belt.
Haney, 22, should be focusing his attention on his next opponent Jorge Linares (47-5, 29 KOs), who he faces this Saturday, May 29th, on DAZN at the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. If Haney loses this fight, there will be no point talking about him and Teofimo.
Haney is currently a huge favorite to defeat the 35-year-old former three-division world champion Linares on Saturday, but many boxing fans believe that he’s heading for his first career loss.
Linares has the speed, power, experience, and technical skills advantage over Haney. Linares lacks youth and the chin, but he might not have anything to worry about because Haney has virtually no power.
Haney says Teofimo is a liar
“He’s a goddamn lie,” said Haney to Boxing Social when told that Teofimo said he reached out to him to try and set up a fight.
“First of all, he said he wanted $10 million to fight me. Did you see that? He said to Eddie Hearn that he wanted $10 million.
“Then after that, he said he was sending me a contract, but we never got the contract. Tell him to stop the cap. You got to stop him in his tracks when he starts telling these lies.
“It’ll get bad, so you got to stop him. Jorge Linares is next. That’s my main focus. We haven’t got the victory yet, but our main focus is Jorge Linares right now,” said Haney.
We don’t know whether a contract was sent or not to Haney from Teofimo. It’s basically Teofimo’s word against Haney, and there’s no way of knowing which of them is telling the truth.
What’s important is whether the fight gets made after their next respective fights. Teofimo is defending his four titles against his IBF mandatory George Kambosos Jr on June 19th on Triller pay-per-view in Miami, Florida.
He says he intends on fighting Haney next unless “scared” 140-lb undisputed champion Josh Taylor agrees to fight him.
Haney reacts to Teofimo calling him “Plastic champion”
“But he’s calling for me, though. He keeps calling my name,” Haney said in reaction to Teofimo calling him a ‘Plastic champion’ and an ’email champion’ in a recent interview. “He keeps calling for the ‘Plastic champion.’
“It just shows you that the fans know, and the fans are demanding the fight, and I’ve been demanding the fight for a long time.
“My main focus is Jorge Linares right now, and his main focus should be Kambosos. It shows that he’s calling other guys when he has a fight in a week. It just shows you what kind of test Kambosos really is,” said Haney.
It’s hard to defend Haney on the labels that Teofimo has thrown at him about being an “email” and “plastic” champion because of the way he was elevated to WBC 135-lb champ outside of the ring.
Devin talks about Linares fight
“He’s relying on experience; that’s what he’s bringing to the table,” said Haney about Linares. “I’m bringing youth, speed, power, the whole everything. I’m relying on talent, skill, and dedication. So we just got to see on Saturday night.
“I’m fighting Jorge Linares, the person that he ducked and beat Luke Campbell, who Ryan Garcia’s best win is from,” Haney said about Teofimo.
“This just shows you that I’ve been calling for the top fights, and I want them. We’ll see who has the better resume after Saturday night,” said Haney about Teofimo.
Linares actually had the advantage in the speed and power department over Haney, not the other way around.
