Tim Bradley has the perfect opponent for Devin Haney to defend his recently captured WBC light welterweight title against, wanting him to face WBO champ Teofimo Lopez in a unification fight and sees that as a bigger match-up than a Ryan Garcia clash.
I don’t know about that idea. Teofimo doesn’t have the social media following that Ryan has, and he rarely fights cutting-edge opposition that fans want to see. Teo hasn’t seemed like he’s been there since his fight with Vasily Lomachenko in 2020. That fight changed him somehow.
If Teofimo is the best that Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) can get, that’s disappointing because there are many fighters he could face if he had the courage.
Financially, Haney vs. Ryan Garcia does way better numbers on paper than Haney-Teofimo because the popularity that Teo had from his win over Lomachenko in 2020 is gone due to his loss to George Kambosos Jr, weak opposition, and inactivity.
Bradley’s Pitch: Teofimo Faces Haney
“Why don’t you go ahead and with Teofimo Lopez? There are options at 140 lbs. Why don’t you go after Teo?” said Tim Bradley to ProBox TV about who he’d like to see Devin Haney fight next.
“That might be an even bigger fight than Ryan Garcia because Ryan doesn’t have a belt, but guess who has a belt? And you have a belt. And then you mesh things together, and now you have a unification at 140 lbs in one of the biggest fights of 2024.”
Teofimo vs. Haney would be impossible to put together because they fight on different networks with different promoters. Haney isn’t popular enough to make it worthwhile for Top Rank to put that fight together.
“I don’t think Ryan beats Rolly Romero,” said Paulie Malignaggi. “I don’t think this kid [Ryan] wants to win a world title. I don’t think this kid wants to be a fighter. I just think he wants to be famous and more power to him if that’s what he wants.
“If he gets deep enough in the trenches at this level, he’s always going to come up short. I just don’t think he wants to be a fighter,” said Malingaggi.
