Lopez Says Fights With Haney, Garcia & Kambosos Evaded Him
On February 8, WBO junior welterweight champion Teofimo “The Takeover” Lopez (19-1, 13 KO’s) will defend his crown against Jamaine Ortiz. Ranked #10 (WBO), this is a great fight for Ortiz, but does not have the appeal that The Takeover may have wanted. Duels with his one-time conqueror George “Ferocious” Kambosos (21-2, 10 KO’s), WBC junior welterweight champion Devin “The Dream” Haney (31-0, 15 KO’s), or many more would have satisfied better.
Yet, according to Lopez, he recently instructed his management team to make deals with both, Kambosos and Haney. In a interview with Boxing Social, the two-division champion explains that despite Top Rank’s best efforts, those fights couldn’t be secured.
“We tried to make it happen – [George] Kambosos, Tank Davis [Abdul Wahid], Devin Haney, Ryan Garcia. Not even Rolly [Rolando Romero]. Because of his performance, honestly, I think he lost. But all these other fighters, Crawford, he’s in the mix of a contract, while I was retired! I told everybody! I told Brad Gunman, Bruce Trampler from Top Rank, the greatest matchmakers in boxing history. I told Bob Arum, they went to go look for it. I told my manager, David McWater, they went to go look for it. Nobody took it! What do you guys want me to do?!”
“And I know they can’t take it because the people that are investing on them need to make their money first before they send them over here to finish the job. And that’s what they say – that boxing is a business. Is it annoying? Yeah.”
WAIT, WHAT?!
While it is not yet formally finalized, all signs are pointing toward Kambosos locking horns with three-division champion Vasiliy Lomachenko next. Therefore, there could be some validity to the claim that Kambosos had different fish to fry, if he was approached with an offer. However, it seems a bit more dubious that a serious offer was made to Devin Haney and they never mentioned it. The situation is even more odd because, in a previous interview with Fight Hype, Lopez said the exact opposite about Haney and gang.
“Those guys [The Haney’s] have a route, Ryan Garcia has a route, Romero, Tank and now I am just now coming back to figure out my own route. Because I’m not going to get these guys and I ain’t no bitch, I’m not going to go look for them. I won, I beat the guy [Josh Taylor] that was the man of the division. So I am king, I am king! So whoever wants to step, come!”
“See, Devin Haney is #2! Teofimo is #1, because I have the lineal. And one thing that me and my father know is that that shit eats them every night, because everybody knows you want to be #1!”
Luckily, at this time, we don’t have to worry about decoding or making sense of these wildly conflicting statements. Instead, we can focus on how Lopez will line up with Ortiz since that is his next actual opponent. Once done though, if successful, perhaps The Takeover can revisit some of these other big fights. Ideally, The Takeover secures a duel with one his fellow top dogs.
