Teofimo Lopez Responds to Devin Haney’s ducking claims!
One of the gifts and curses of social media is the fact that once something is out in the cyber universe, there is no taking it back. Back on May 28, Devin Haney posted a tweet essentially saying that Teofimo Lopez was ducking him.
The tweet referenced a four-man lightweight tournament that the WBC sought to put together. In the wake of the WBC ruling in favor of Vasyl Lomenchenko facing Luke Campbell for Mikey Garcia’s vacated strap, there was a significant shift in the rankings. The organization thought to hold a quick tournament in response to better figure out who was who.
They intended for both Lopez and Haney to participate. However, Lopez had no intention on participating. Shortly after the objectives of the WBC were made public, Bob Arum made a formal announcement that Lopez was following a different path that didn’t include the impending tournament.
Fight Hub TV recently had the chance to catch up with Lopez and get a bit of clarification on the matter. In laid back fashion, Lopez explained how he was in no way ducking Haney. In fact, by his estimation, his road would lead to a title shot much quicker than Haney’s.
“The kid doesn’t see it, he doesn’t see the bigger picture. They actually moved him back up in the rankings. So, I’m actually closer, I’m probably, I think top three in all four body sanctions.
“So ,I think he trying to basically make it seem like I was scared to fight him. The kid tries to do anything he wants to show everybody and prove. The thing is that I’m still in his brain, I’m still in his mind. I’m the guy that he wants to get rid of, you know?
“So, he says all these things but at the end of the day, I’m fighting. I’m two fights away from fighting for a world title and becoming a world champion within two fights. You’re 20-something and 0, I’m 13-0; two fights away from a world title.
“I just smell some jealously over there.
“The thing is, the kid thinks he’s going to fight for the WBC as a mandatory. He doesn’t see that even if you do get the mandatory, they’re going to push the IBF with the other three belts and make it a unification and you’re just left there in the end, but he doesn’t see that.”
Haney and Lopez are each tremendous talents in the lightweight division. Both are trained by their fathers, are undefeated and expected to do very big things in the sport. While a showdown at some point seems inevitable, it’s clear that the fight will have to wait.
By: Bakari Simpson
