Teofimo Lopez and Devin Haney Going to War
Just a few short months ago, one of the more hotly anticipated upcoming fights was going to pit IBF world lightweight champion Teofimo “El Brooklyn” Lopez (15-0, 12 KO’s) against WBO, WBA and WBC ‘Franchise’ world lightweight champion Vasiliy “Hi-Tech” Lomachenko (14-1, 10 KO’s). However, well before these men could slide in the ring, COVID-19 drifted into town and slammed the breaks on this and every other fight.
Unfortunately, now it appears as if the bout has gone from being postponed to cancelled. At least this is what Lopez has taken to social media to report. Unwillingly to sit around twiddling his thumbs, El Brooklyn immediately began calling out his fellow lightweight boxers in an attempt to replace the recently nixed prizefight. Although, let Teofimo Lopez tell it, none are willing to answer the call of duty.
Y’ALL SOME BITCHES!!!
Having accepted the fact that his fight with Hi-Tech was not happening, Lopez claims that his team began reaching out to his fellow lightweight combatants. According to Lopez, in an uploaded tirade, El Brooklyn alleges that none are willing to face him in the ring. In fact, Lopez at one point went so far as to hold up pictures of both WBC world lightweight champion Devin “The Dream” Haney (24-0, 15 KO’s) and Ryan “KingRy” Garcia (20-0, 17 KO’s) and called them both ‘bitches.’
“We are trying to make these fights happen, […] I’m being honest, we’ve been working. And the fact that these guys don’t want to fight, that they want a tune-up fight or they want something else, it’s frustrating! We don’t need no tune-up fight.
“…me, my father and manager, we said if we can’t fight Loma let’s make the Devin Haney fight happen. They reached out to Eddie Hearn, we haven’t gotten a response back. These guys say they want the smoke but they don’t. Talking out they ass! Don’t talk about it, be about it!…they all bitches!”
For some, hearing that Team Lopez only contacted Eddie Hearn may come off as sounding a little odd. The reason being Haney is only co-promoted by Eddie Hearn and is actually himself a promoter. Therefore, why not contact Haney, or his father/chief second/manager, directly? This way, Team Lopez would literally have cut out the middleman.
TALKING OUT YOUR NECK!
Having seen Lopez’s post, Haney quickly responded in rather nonchalant fashion. Via his own Twitter account, The Dream denied that Lopez’s team ever made contacted and labeled him a bold face lie. Going a step further, Haney insinuated that it was Lopez who first evaded him when El Brooklyn exited a four-man tournament that he and Haney were both apart of.
It would be splendid if Lopez and Haney left the past in the past and penned their next bout with each other. They’re both highly skilled champions, both are in their prime and each appear to have a genuine distaste for the other. That sounds like an ideal match-up for any true fight fan!
At this point, let’s just hope we can move past the social media/Twitter fingers phase of this on-going rift. Both need a fight and both think they are the superior specimen. So let’s get these questions answered the old fashion way…in the ring!
Stay tuned to 3kingsboxing.com for the latest boxing news and updates.
By: Bakari Simpson
