Teofimo Lopez says Haney has years of growing to do before they fight
For quite some time, WBA, WBO and IBF world lightweight champion Teofimo “Take Over” Lopez (16-0, 12 KO’s) has had an open rivalry with WBC world lightweight champion Devin “The Dream” Haney (25-0, 15 KO’s). Now would appear to be the perfect time for the two to fight. After defeating the highly decorated Vasiliy “Hi-Tech” Lomachenko (14-2, 10 KO’s), Lopez is certainly the man to beat in the division.
The only belt that he does not possess is wrapped around Haney’s waist. And with only one or two fights left at 135, why not go out with a true fight for undisputed status? Directly after his bout with Hi-Tech, Lopez sounded as if he would meet the Dream in the ring. Unfortunately, now it appears the Take Over has no desire to square-off with Haney any time soon, as he told EsNews.
“With the Devin Haney fight, a lot of people talk about it and they talk about his fake belt, man come on. I just don’t want to push that fight. You know why? It don’t bring the revenue that it should because I am going to be doing a lot of the lifting, just like I did with Loma.
The only thing that helped me with the heavy lifting with Loma and the promotion was the belts that he had and the amount of prestige, the pedestal that they put him at. But when it comes to Devin, I have to think about it. Devin has not a long way, he got maybe three to five years to get to that point to where we can make that fight happen.”
HANEY BLEW HIS SHOT!!
In the end, Lopez is holding Haney’s last outing against Yuriorkis Gamboa (30-4, 18 KO’s) against him. There is no denying that the Dream did not enjoy the night that he would have hoped for. Had everything gone according to plan, Haney would have gotten a sensational early round knockout.
RELATED: Devin Haney Gets Shutout Win Over Gamboa!
Instead, he put on a clinic for twelve straight rounds. Yet, dominant or not, his low excitement showing did pale in comparison to Lopez’s win over Loma. It was also easily overshadowed by regular WBA world lightweight champion Gervonta “Tank” Davis’s (24-0, 23 KO’s) chilling knockout of Leo Santa Cruz (37-2-1, 19 KO’s). So, with the brightest spotlight of his career shining on his shoulders, Lopez just does not feel like Haney makes the cut.
“He can only grow, he can only get better, but it hasn’t been with the right opposition. He needs to definitely step it up. Gamboa was not the move and he fucked that up for himself. It was a bad look, it really was. You went to a retirement home to pick up this guy to knock him out and you still couldn’t knock him out!”
“…You know Devin is a great fighter, but he ain’t there yet.”
By: Bakari Simpson
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