WBC lightweight champion Devin ‘The Dream’ Haney (25-0, 15 KOs) will be receiving a contract offer IBF/WBA/WBC Franchise/WBO champion Teofimo Lopez for his next fight in April or May.
Haney, 22, is the backup insurance plan if Teofimo is unable to get the fight made with his main target, George Kambosos. It’s possible that Haney’s name is only being thrown in by Teofimo to get Kambosos not to ask for too much money.
If Kambosos knows that Teofimo has a high-profile option in Haney, he might not ask for as much dough.
Haney and Kambosos will both be getting contract offers for Teofimo’s next fight in late April or early May. Teofimo (16-0, 12 KOs) still doesn’t know the exact date yet for his fight, but he’ll find out soon.
The main thing is, Teofimo gets an opponent to sign so that he can move forward with his career. He says he wants to take on all the top guys at 135, but we’ll see if that happens.
Teofimo, 23, is with Top Rank and fights on ESPN. Putting together a fight with one of the DAZN guys like Haney or Ryan Garcia could be a problem.
Lopez’s promoter Bob Arum has talked of wanting to match him against the Australian fighter Kambosos (19-0, 10 KOs) next, and Teofimo Sr has talked about the fight. Both Arum and Teofimo Sr seem highly interested in making the fight with Kambosos.
There’s a possibility of 60,000 fans attending a fight between Teofimo and Kambosos. Last week, Teofimo said that Haney is his plan-B option if he can’t get the fight made with Kambosos.
“The end of April the beginning of May is my fight date,” said Teofimo. “Well, my fight month. Against who?
“We’re in the works of it. We’re going to throw contracts at Devin, and we’re going to throw contracts at Kambosos.
“Whatever we get back with, as long as we find a medium and we all agree to the terms, then you’re going to see a fight.
Teofimo needs a good performance to keep increasing his popularity. He turned down a rematch with Vasily Lomachenko, who he beat by a 12 round unanimous decision last October.
Despite huge fan interest in seeing a second fight, Teofimo has repeatedly said, ‘What for?’
Teofimo is now saying he’s not giving Lomachenko a rematch because he didn’t add a rematch clause in the contract, and he doubts that he would have been given a second fight if he’d lost.
Many boxing fans think that Teofimo, his dad, and Arum don’t want to make the fight with Lomachenko for fear of losing.
Lomachenko is with Top Rank as well, but he’s not young at 33, and he lacks the charisma that Teofimo possesses. So it’s good for Top Rank to make sure that Lomachenko never gets a rematch with Lopez because he’ll likely beat him the second time around.
“They’re all going to know. Why do you think Devin said April? Everything is already falling into place, ladies and gents,” said Teofimo.