Teofimo Lopez is already predicting Devin Haney and Terence Crawford will choose to avoid him after he defends his WBO light welterweight title against Jamaine Ortiz on February 8th during Super Bowl week at the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas.
Teo believes Haney & Crawford will hide behind their promoters and networks, cowering to avoid his presence.
Lopez (19-1, 13 KOs) doesn’t seem too worried about challenger Ortiz (17-1-1, 8 KOs), viewing him as a “kid” and not on his level. The targets that Teofimo wants are well-paying fights against WBC 140-lb champion Haney and unified welterweight champion Crawford.
Predicting the Escape Routes
“January 19th, after I beat this boy [Jamaine Ortiz], let’s see what they do next,” said Teofimo Lopez on social media. “I bet Devin Haney is going to go up to 147 and say they’re a three-time world champion.”
According to Bill Haney, Teofimo demanded $20 million for a fight with Devin, and he sees him as utterly deluded. It’s unclear where Teofimo came up with the $20M figure because there’s little chance a fight with Haney would bring in that kind of revenue on PPV.
If Teofimo wants the fight with Haney bad enough, he’ll follow him up to 147 and fight him for one of the titles when they’re fragmented. There will be vacated belts that Teofimo can fight Haney for, and that would be a fairly big fight, but NOT one that would allow for either of these guys to get a giant $20 million purse.
The Shadow of Avoidance
“I bet Terence Crawford is going to go to 154 and drop all his belts at 147. Let’s see if they do this,” Teofimo continued. “I hope someone has this pre-recorded, and after I beat this boy [Ortiz], post it.
“The thing I learned about this game. Those fighters hide under their promoter, they hide under their manager, and they hide under their network. You got to understand, they put a lot of money in these kids. I understand,” said Teofimo, making it clear he thinks Haney will duck him. “Hey, I understand. It’s okay.”
As you can see, Teofimo views Haney & Crawford as fighters who hide behind their promoters and networks to duck him for fear of losing.
“The thing is, the people, you guys, are the ones that make the fights happen for us. I just came back to educate everybody,” said Teofimo.
