Teofimo Lopez denied today that he’s in negotiations for a fight with Devin Haney next, saying the reports are “false.” He’s NOT negotiating, and he’s unsure whether the rumor started, but it has no basis in reality.
Lopez (21-1, 13 KOs) says he will be fighting Terence Crawford in 2025. However, that sounds just as false as the fake news that sprang up yesterday about him fighting Haney. Crawford has shown NO interest in fighting a struggling non-PPV level fighter like Teofimo, who has arguably lost three out of his last five fights since 2021.
The Haney negotiation reports were insane, to begin with, and so it’s nutty that people actually believed them, especially coming from the site where they originated. For starters, Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) isn’t going to take a risky fight for his comeback after his loss to Ryan Garcia.
Teofimo Denies Haney Negotiations
While Teofimo is showing serious signs of decline in his last five fights, he can still punch, and it would be dangerous for Haney to fight after the loss to Ryan on April 20th. Haney still wants the rematch with Ryan because he can make millions from a second fight. He’s not going to mess that up by fighting Teofimo and potentially getting sparked out.
Besides, a match against Teofimo wouldn’t make the kind of cash for Haney that a rematch with Ryan would, and that’s if he could even get the fight negotiated. Trying to bang out a deal with Teofimo would be a pure nightmare for Haney and his dad, Bill Haney.
“Where did all these rumors come out of? These things came out of hat,” said Teofimo Lopez on social media, reacting to the rumors of him supposedly negotiating for a fight against Devin Haney. “I haven’t had no contract sent to me. They said we negotiated. Who said we negotiated?
“I’m hearing rumors of me in negotiations with me and Devin Haney. Right now, I’m sorry to say, guys, this is all false accusation [reports] until further notice,” said Teofimo.
There was no way on earth that Haney would risk his Ryan rematch by fighting a puncher like Teofimo for chicken feed. Now, if His Excellency Turki Alalshikh got involved and were willing to shower Haney with gold bullion in the multi-millions, he would likely accept it in a second, but other than that, he’s not going to take the risk.
When Haney does come back for a tuneup, it’s going to be someone that has no power and not a threat to knocking him out or making him look bad the way Ryan did.
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