Teofimo Lopez’s father accuses Devin Haney of ducking his son
Teofimo Lopez Sr. has made it clear that a Devin Haney fight is still an option for his son, and also revealed he came out of retirement for that fight!
The current WBO super lightweight champion, Teofimo Lopez (19-1, 13KOs) has called out his fellow 140 lbs star, Devin Haney (31-0, 15KOs), on numerous occasions over the last year.
Lopez is currently set to face off against WBO #10 Jermaine Ortiz tonight in Las Vegas. The fight will see Ortiz have his first shot at a major world title after spending the last few building up an impressive resume.
Despite moving on from a potential clash with Haney, ‘The Takeover’s’ outspoken father still appears enticed by an all-American showdown between the two world champions, calling out ‘The Dream’ in an interview with Boxing Social.
“We here to take the biggest fights. Haney’s got a belt that we want, and that fight could be made easily. It’s up to them if they want to take it.
Lopez Sr. continued, stating that Haney was the reason for his son’s decision to come out of retirement. The former undisputed lightweight star had planned to fight for the WBO belt, had it been vacated by the 26-year-old, something the champion’s father couldn’t allow to happen.
“I told him [Teofimo Lopez] ‘Devin wants that belt to fight Barboza for the vacant title. We are not going to let him do that again to us. He already took that easy route with Kambosos, we ain’t gonna let him take it again’
“So that’s why my son came back from retirement, because of that. What happened? Devin Haney came and said ‘No, I want to fight Prograis’. He took the easy route.”
Teofimo’s father went on to confirm that a showdown against Haney is still something that they are keen to bring to fruition.
“We do want that fight, we want every fight. We the only ones that have been proving that we want to fight the best.
“They called him crazy to fight Loma, they called him crazy to fight Josh Taylor, and now they calling him crazy because we want to fight Terrence Crawford. That’s for real”
If Lopez defends his belt successfully against challenger Ortiz later on this evening, options will open back up for the New Yorker. While, as of late, his interests seem to have moved on to a bid to challenge Terence Crawford, but a fight with Haney is still on the cards, especially with ‘The Dream’ seeming quite content at 140lbs.