WBO 140-lb champion Teofimo Lopez’s father, Teofimo Sr, says they want to face Devin Haney and believe that a fight can easily be put together.
The Haney Factor
WBC light welterweight champion Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) is currently negotiating to defend against Ryan Garcia on April 20th. However, it’s still up in the air if that fight will get done.
If so, Teofimo can forget about trying to set up a fight with Haney next, but there’s always the possibility of a summer fight if Devin can still make the 140-lb weight class by that point. Haney tends to balloon up in between fights, and he’ll likely celebrate if he defeats Ryan on April 20th.
Teofimo’s Immedia Focus
The first order of business for Teofimo (19-1, 13 KOs) is to defend his WBO 140-lb belt in a voluntary defense against Jamaine Ortiz (17-1-1, 8 KOs) this Thursday night at the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas.
Teofimo Sr. expects his son to make easy work of Ortiz, who recently bounced back from his loss to Vasily Lomachenko to defeat Antonio Moran last September by a ten round decision.
“My son beat him in the amateurs, and we’re going to do the same thing all over again,” said Teofimo Lopez Sr. to Boxing Social about Teofimo’s title defense of his WBO light welterweight belt against Jamaine Ortiz on ESPN on Thursday night.
“I heard that Bill Haney is training Jamaine Ortiz. Listen, we’re here to take the biggest fights. Haney has got a belt [WBC 140-lb] that we want, and that fight can be made easily. It’s up to them if they want to take it.
Lopez Sr.’s Accusations and Motivations
“My son has been calling everybody out. When my son was going to let go of his belt, Devin Haney wanted to fight for that vacant belt against Barboza. I told my son, ‘You’re not going to leave that belt.’
“I told him, ‘Listen, Devin wants that belt [WBO 140-lb] to fight Barboza for the vacant title. We’re not going to let them do that against to us. We already let him take that easy route with Kamboso. We’re not going to let him take it again.’ So, that’s when my son came back from retirement because of that.
“So what happened? Haney came and said, ‘I want to fight [Regis] Prograis [for the WBC 140-lb title].’ He took the easy route,” said Teofimo Sr. about Devin.
