Teofimo Lopez vs. Devin Haney can happen next says Eddie Hearn

By Boxing News - 05/30/2021 - Comments

By Charles Brun: Eddie Hearn believes he can make the fight between Teofimo Lopez and Devin Haney next as long as Teo wins his June 19th title defense against George Kambosos Jr.

WBC lightweight champion Haney (26-0, 15 KOs) cleared his obstacle from making the fight last Saturday with his 12 round unanimous decision win over Jorge Linares.

Ideally, it would be better for Haney to prove that he can beat Vasily Lomachenko first before moving on to a fight with Teofimo Lopez. At this point, Lomachenko would likely beat Haney based on the way he fought against Linares.

If Haney can’t beat Lomachenko, he sure won’t have any success against Teofimo.

We saw many holes in Haney’s game that Lomachenko would take full advantage of if allowed to fight him.

Linares let Haney survive

It wasn’t pretty from the 22-year-old Haney, particularly with the way he was hurt by Linares in the later rounds and with all the holding he did.

Anyway, Haney got the job done, and now he’s going to be waiting to see what happens with Teofimos’s fight against the upset-minded Kambosos Jr next month.

Hearn is still willing to make the Teofimo-Haney fight despite his less than spectacular performance against Linares. Most boxing fans are now writing off Haney after the way he looked against Linares.

Haney’s chin might not be up to the mark against the 23-year-old Teofimo. Moreover, if Haney gets hurt against Teo, he won’t be able to count on clinching his way out of trouble for three rounds like he did against Linares.

Teofimo isn’t going to let Haney clinch him for three minutes of every round without training him at close range while being held. Haney won’t get away with hugging Teofimo to stall out the fight the way he did against Linares.

If Linares has any sense, he would have unloaded on Haney while he was holding him, but obviously, that’s something he never learned during his 19 years as a pro.

After letting Haney escape with a victory, Linare’s trainer should have him write on the chalkboard 1000 ties, ‘You are allowed to throw punches when tied up in a clinch.’

It’s mind-boggling that Linares never learned that he could throw punches when your opponent is tying you up.

Hearn confident Teofimo vs. Haney happens

“I think Haney showed tonight that he’s an elite world-class fighter,” said Hearn to iFL TV. “Can he beat Teofimo, Tank, and Ryan Garcia?

Image: Teofimo Lopez vs. Devin Haney can happen next says Eddie Hearn

“I believe so, but let’s wait and see. Teofimo has been very vocal about being the fight that he wants after Kambosos, and so do we. So let’s try and make it happen.

“There are many ways we can make the fight,” Hearn said about a fight between Haney and Teofimo Lopez. “We’ve got the money to make the fight. I believe we can make the fight.

“It’s a huge fight for DAZN. If it has to go on ESPN PPV, that’s no problem as well. If that’s the opportunity for Devin, we have to take that. I don’t see why that shouldn’t happen.

“He’s 22, and he’s learned on the road,” said Hearn about Haney. “He’s got an extremely intelligent boxing brain for a 22-year-old, and you can see that in the ring.

“He never ran out of ideas in the ring there tonight. He was always trying new things. Then he started walking him down, which I don’t think he should have done, but he wanted to switch it up.

“He forced Linares back at times, he boxed him on the inside at times, he tied him up well. It was a very mature performance from someone so young,” said Hearn.

“Teofimo, on the other hand, is a little bit of a different animal, who I think will fight anybody,” Hearn said. “Teofimo wants to fight Devin Haney.

“If that’s the case, we can do it on DAZN. We can do it on ESPN. And we really don’t care. We just want to do the fight. That’s what we hope to get next,” said Hearn on Haney vs. Teofimo possibly being next,” said Hearn.

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Charles Brun noticed that Hearn wasn’t nearly as animated in talking about putting the Haney vs. Teofimo fight together as he was when speaking about a Ryan Garcia vs. Devin clash.

What does that mean? It’s safe to say that Hearn doesn’t believe Haney can beat Teofimo.

As long as Teofimo and Top Rank want to make the fight with Haney, it should be a fairly easy one to negotiate.

Teofimo’s promoter Bob Arum might feel a little more motivated to make the Haney fight after seeing how flawed he looked against 35-year-old Linares.

Eddie raves about Haney’s performance

“I know the critics will say that Linares is past his prime, but he came into this fight with a tremendous camp,” said Hearn to Behind The Gloves.

“He looked extremely confident, and Devin spoke well at the press conference. No one has run rounds up on Jorge Linares. It was eight or nine nill [in favor of Haney].

“I maybe gave Linares one round. Linares has never been beaten by points. His only defeats have come by stoppage.

“He boxed because he’s a very good boxer, and he’s tough to outbox, and Devin completely outboxed him and schooled him for nine rounds.

“He [Haney] took some big shots in that fight, got buzzed at the end of the 10th, recovered well, and had to use his maturity, which at 22 is hard to do.

“I think a lot of people don’t talk about Devin being 22 because age is irrelevant because boxing is not about how old you are, but tell me another fighter at 22 that has the potential and ability of Devin Haney.

“And I don’t believe it exists. I think he’s got to improve on, and I think he’s going to get a lot stronger, and I think we can make those big fights that boxing disserves at 135 pounds because there’s really no excuse not to,” Hearn said.

Image: Teofimo Lopez vs. Devin Haney can happen next says Eddie Hearn

Hearn should be disappointed in what he saw from Haney last Saturday night against Linares because that performance revealed two major flaws that will hold him back from beating the elite at 135.

Haney’s flaws:

  • No power
  • Poor punch resistance

Ryan Garcia vs. Devin Haney must happen

“It baffles me that the media and the fans gave Ryan Garcia a pass not to fight Devin Haney when he boxed a final eliminator [against Luke Campbell] to become Devin Haney’s mandatory,” said Hearn.

“That was the whole idea of that fight. So when the WBC said, ‘Great, there’s the fight,’ they told the WBC, ‘No, no, we’re not going to take the fight.’

“They started saying, ‘Haney’s not a big name. I want Pacquiao and this fight.’ You just beat Luke Campbell to become his mandatory, and that’s a massive fight.

“We’re on the same platform [DAZN]. There’s no reason it shouldn’t happen. We hope he gets well soon. We hope he gets back in the sport because he’s great for boxing.

“So why not make that fight. He was looking at Pacquiao and Tank. Well, you can’t make those fights.

“We’re on the same platform, and there’s a lot of money in that fight. It’s like the excuse, ‘He’s not a big enough name.’

“Ryan Garcia vs. Devin Haney is a super fight, and Ryan Garcia is a huge star himself, and he’s a great fighter. That’s a fight that we want to see,” said Hearn.

Let’s be clear about this. Golden Boy Promotions isn’t going to let Ryan Garcia anywhere near Haney or anyone halfway decent in his first fight back from his mental health episode.

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When Ryan does come back, it’ll be against an easy mark like the guys he’s been facing since he first turned pro. It might take three to five warm-up fights for Ryan before Golden Boy Promotions considers letting him fight Haney.

By that time, Haney will likely have moved up to 140, so that’ll make the fight with Ryan impossible unless he moves up in weight.