LAS VEGAS – Teofimo Lopez considers even this aged version of Jorge Linares a legitimate test for Devin Haney.
Lopez hopes Haney is prepared to get past the experienced three-division champion primarily because he wants to settle their WBC lightweight title beef next. If Haney handles Linares on Saturday night and Lopez defeats George Kambosos Jr. on June 19 in Miami, Lopez plans to check the unbeaten Haney’s willingness to get in the ring with him later this year.
“I don’t care if he would or wouldn’t [fight me],” Lopez told BoxingScene.com following an open workout Tuesday at City Athletic Boxing Gym. “I’m making him my mandatory, regardless. He can’t say no to that. We’re gonna corner him. We’re gonna checkmate him on every end. And if he overprices himself, we’ll go to purse bid. He’s not running away. He’s been running away, but nobody knows that. Ain’t nobody ducking nobody.”
From Lopez’s perspective, if Triller Fight Club was willing to pay $6,018,000 for the right to promote his fight against Australia’s Kambosos (19-0, 10 KOs), there should be multiple bidders willing to provide top dollar for a bout between him and Haney (25-0, 15 KOs).
Brooklyn’s Lopez laughed off Haney’s contention that the IBF/WBA/WBO/WBC franchise champion has avoided fighting him. Of all the young, undefeated lightweights, Lopez has the most significant win on his resume – a 12-round, unanimous decision victory versus Ukraine’s Vasiliy Lomachenko on October 17 at MGM Grand Conference Center.
Lopez (16-0, 12 KOs) believes his win against Lomachenko made him boxing’s undisputed lightweight champion. Las Vegas’ Haney has argued that Lomachenko (14-2, 10 KOs) avoided him and that he, not Lopez, is the legitimate WBC 135-pound champ.
“He ain’t the WBC champion,” Lopez told a group of reporters prior to the open workout Tuesday. “He is the email world champion. He is the true definition of fake it till you make it. The only thing that’s keeping him relevant right now is that fake-ass belt. And hey, but he gotta focus right now on his fight with Linares, and then we’ll go from there.”
The 22-year-old Haney (25-0, 15 KOs) beat Russia’s Zaur Abdullaev (13-1, 8 KOs) by technical knockout after four one-sided rounds to win the then-vacant WBC interim lightweight title in September 2019 at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater in New York. A little less than two weeks earlier, Lomachenko defeated England’s Luke Campbell by unanimous decision to win the WBC world 135-pound crown, which also was vacant entering that 12-rounder at O2 Arena in London.
Lomachenko later was elevated to the controversial status of “franchise” champion by the WBC, which initiated Haney’s promotion from interim champ to world champ.
Haney has defended his title twice. He went all 12 rounds in each of those fights, a pair of unanimous decisions over the Dominican Republic’s Alfredo Santiago (13-2, 5 KOs) in November 2019 and faded former champion Yuriorkis Gamboa (30-4, 18 KOs) in November 2020.
Although Lopez is certain he solidified his undisputed status by beating a pound-for-pound, elite-level talent like Lomachenko, he wants to physically settle this issue with Haney once and for all.
“Look, I see it like this – I can’t go out with Kambosos [at 135] and move up to 140,” Lopez said. “And if I do, it’ll be with [Josh] Taylor, and he has his [WBO] mandatory now, apparently, with this guy named who? Catterall? Whatever his name is. And that’s it. So, my whole thing is like I gotta finish with somebody at ’35 clean then. So, it could be Devin.”
Assuming they win their fights scheduled just three weeks apart and want to box next, there’s seemingly nothing that should prevent Lopez-Haney from materializing later in 2021.
Most oddsmakers have established Haney as at least a 12-1 favorite versus Venezuela’s Linares (47-5, 29 KOs), who has been beaten by technical knockout five times during his 18-year pro career. DAZN will stream Haney-Linares as its main event Saturday night from Mandalay Bay’s Michelob Ultra Arena.
“I don’t even know,” Lopez replied when asked how Haney-Linares will unfold. “We’ll see. You know, we haven’t really seen Devin step up to the plate until now. So, we can’t really tell or predict what’s gonna happen until we see it on Saturday. Maybe he’ll surprise all of us, or maybe not. Maybe he might just show up to the limit he always is. He’s a one-dimensional fighter. He’s not a universal fighter. It’s so easy to pick up on these guys. And may the best man win. I really want Devin to win this fight because I want his head next.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.