Teofimo Lopez Calls Devin Haney Manmade Trash!
WBO super lightweight champion Teofimo “The Takeover” Lopez (19-1, 13 KO’s) is back in the media making inflammatory statements as he’s accustomed to doing. In this session, while speaking on Jaxxon Podcast, Lopez ridiculed Devin “The Dream” Haney’s (30-0, 15 KO’s) boxing ability and threw in a stunning accusation minus any proof.
“I have messages and he [Devin Haney] didn’t want to fight me, but I’m not going to put him out there like that. He’s a big guy, tough guy, then so be it, but show it. He wants to say that ‘I’m fighting Prograis,’ but Prograis has been at this weight for a long time. Regis Prograis has been at 140 as long as Josh Taylor, and Josh Taylor beat Regis Prograis – just want to clarify for everyone that doesn’t know that – for the WBSS which is the World Boxing Super Six Series and he got the Muhammad Ali trophy.
He [Taylor] beat Regis Prograis in the finals and I beat Josh Taylor, I’m the king. I’m that guy. Devin Haney? I’d beat his butt! Yo, like he sucks, for real! Trash, terrible, garbage, like an amateur, he still fights like an amateur . . . he’s man made, he’s been helped to get there but he doesn’t have it to sustain it and stay there. And who knows, we’ll see it either before we fight or we see it when we fight.”
Truthfully, The Takeover has been making these outlandish statements for years. Yet, to say that The Dream, a former undisputed champion, is complete trash or has not proven his worth is just nonsense. Lopez has screamed from the mountain tops about victory over Vasiliy Lomachenko, who is the same fighter that Haney also beat, for three solid years. So if that was such a miraculous milestone for The Takeover, how could it not be for Haney?
MAKE IT MAKE SENSE
To go a step further, Haney showed great skill, IQ and heart under fire during his fight with Jorge Linares. In that duel, The Dream was seriously rocked in the eleventh and then came back to dominate the final period in impressive fashion. He would go on to stage two high pressure bouts with George Kambosos on the road to actually become undisputed rather than just claim the status as Lopez has now done in two separate divisions.
Following Kambosos, Haney battled Loma and next he will face arguably the best fighter at 140-pounds in WBC super lightweight champion Regis Prograis. If successful versus Prograis, Team Haney has already put it out there that they want to immediately move up again and face Keith Thurman at welterweight. Love him or hate him, if being honest, there is no way to not say this is impressive.
Even now, Lopez is calling himself the undisputed champion at 140 while only owning one belt, which is literally impossible. He says this because he beat Josh Taylor, who was briefly undisputed in the division. Therefore, he is running with the triangle theory that holds because he beat Josh Taylor, who beat Regis Prograis, he is better than both. Yet, if triangle theories worked, which they don’t, wouldn’t Haney be better than Lopez because The Dream beat the same Kambosos that beat Lopez? Or, does this same theory not work when it’s not in his favor?
MAYBE ONE DAY
If Haney was such easy work, Lopez could have faced him at 135-pounds to legitimately become undisputed. Instead, to face a “trash” fighter, Team Lopez first demanded $10 million to fight only later double their fee to the truly insane number of $20 million. Make it make sense.
No one is saying that Lopez is a poor fighter – quite the opposite. The Takeover is a tremendous talent with unlimited potential. This is why folks want to see him face Haney. At the same time, his statements outside the ring are frequently unhinged. For example, he labels Haney as trash and a second tier fighter, but draws the line at presenting the proof that Haney refused to fight him. Please, make it make sense.
In any event, it will be interesting to see how Haney fairs in his in-ring ordeal with Prograis and who Lopez takes on in his next assignment. Then hopefully, these two talented pugilists can finally settle their feud in the ring and not through social media. In the meantime, it’d be great if Lopez would cease trying to be the coupon undisputed champion by claiming the status with a discount in required deeds.
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