Bill Haney lashes out at Teofimo Lopez for calling out Terence Crawford
Teofimo Lopez (19-1, 13KOs) spoke to Boxing Social on Wednesday, January 10, taking aim at Terence Crawford (40-0, 31KOs) in a scathing interview.
26-year-old Lopez is coming off the back of a dominant decision win against Josh Taylor, stripping the Scot of his WBO Super Lightweight title last June.
The bout was scored fairly closely by two of the judges (115-113), though in the eyes of many a different story was told as the Brooklyn-born boxer out-threw and out-landed the former undefeated star, leading to a shock upset in New York.
Speaking on Wednesday, January 10, about who ‘The Takeover’ would like to face next, he set his sights on Welterweight king ‘Bud’ Crawford.
“It has to be at 147lbs, I know they are talking about him and Spence and their rematch clause at 154lbs so whatever that case may be. When I beat Lomachenko, Crawford didn’t have no problem saying that he will come down and fight me, so what’s up? I’m not here to play games, I want to fight the best because that is what it is all about. I need to test myself and challenge myself and people are going to be like ‘ooh, that is a challenge’, the only challenge that I have in front of me is myself.”
He continued to brashly say, “The fighters that Crawford fought were handicapped. Errol Spence just announced about his cataract and stuff. Jose Benavidez, when he fought him, he had a shot leg. Then there is that fighter that he faced and they tried to make in into a big thing and he was injured too? Kell Brook, with his eye. Every fighter that Crawford has faced throughout the 147lb division, whether it looks good on paper, they have been injured. I am healthy, fight the best fighter at a healthier weight.”
Fellow American prospect, Devin Haney, has shot to the top of the boxing world, and his father and trainer, Bill Haney, appears to show an interest in pairing his son up against the outspoken WBO super lightweight champion.
Matching Teofimo’s sharp tongue, Bill rebuked him by saying, “Teofimo Lopez, if you don’t knock it off talking about you want ‘Bud’ Crawford… I just seen you and your daddy and y’all yelled ‘Why didn’t we offer you 20 million?’, so you can imagine what you’d be talking about to fight ‘Bud’ Crawford.
“Act like you got some sense and we could make Haney vs Lopez for that 140-pound unification. Act like you got some sense and stop talking about ‘Bud’ Crawford, you don’t want none of ‘Bud’ Crawford and you don’t deserve none”.
A fight with Haney would appear promising after a matchup between the newly crowned WBC super lightweight champion and Ryan Garcia seems to have disintegrated following Garcia switching his gaze onto WBA holder Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero.
Promoter, Eddie Hearn, also looks to have grown frustrated with Garcia, as speaking on Matchroom Boxing’s YouTube channel he exclaimed his displeasure with the young fighter’s apparent unpredictability regarding the recent negotiations.
“He [Ryan Garcia] DM’d me a few times saying ‘Just want to confirm, this is the fight I want, Devin Haney.’
“Oscar [De La Hoya] was onto me, had numerous conversations with Eric Gomez, we were working with DAZN to put an offer together for that fight. There’s been rumblings of that fight potentially being in the Middle East as well.
“Then he just tweeted ‘I changed my mind, I’m fighting Rolly Romero.’ I get it.
"I mistakenly believed that Ryan Garcia was a legacy guy, he was a guy who wanted to fight the top guys for the championship, but I can’t blame him for what he’s doing."
It seems as though Hearn’s trust in ‘King Ry’ is beginning to falter, meaning it looks more likely that he could look elsewhere in setting up a fight for Haney. If Lopez is interested, an exciting matchup could be on the horizon as ‘The Dream’ looks ready to start carving a path to becoming the third man in history to be crowned an undisputed champion at two weight classes.