As fans know, lightweight rivals Ryan Garcia and Gervonta Davis are currently circling one another, each calling the other out for their next fight (the two really getting into it on the latest episode of Mike Tyson’s Hot Boxin’ podcast). This is a fight that could turn out to be huge, and of course we all want to see it go down. But although Garcia and “Tank” are bigger stars and are enjoying a bigger profile than Devin Haney, it could be that Haney is better than both of them.
The ruling WBC 135 pound champ has told ESPN.com that with Garcia, his mandatory, looking to fight Davis instead, he is now aiming at a massive fight with Teofimo Lopez. As potentially great as a Davis-Garcia fight is, a Lopez-Haney match-up is just as solid. And as Haney says, why doesn’t Lopez want to fight him so as to “figure out who is the real WBC champion.”
IBF/WBO/WBA/WBC franchise champ Lopez, the top dog of the division courtesy of his brilliant win over Vasyl Lomachenko, has called Haney, “the email champion.” Haney wants to get in the ring with Lopez and prove otherwise.
“It didn’t surprise me. I knew that he really didn’t want to fight me and he wasn’t going to fight me,” Haney said first, when discussing Garcia. “I knew that he would go a different direction than fighting me. The main fight I want to be made is with Teofimo Lopez for all the belts, for the real undisputed king. If I’m so much of an email champ or I’m not worthy enough, why not just make the fight happen and we can figure out who is the real WBC champion, who is the real undisputed king. If I’m so easy and not credible, why not get me out of the way?”
Why not indeed? Lopez has said he has zero interest in a return fight with Lomachenko, so who will he fight next if Garcia and Tank get it on with one another? Sure, Lopez could get his IBF mandatory out of the way and fight George Kambosos Jr (not a bad fight at all), but there is no way Lopez can say a fight between he and Haney is a dud nobody wants to see. In fact, as hot as a Garcia-Davis fight is, a fight between Lopez and Haney is just a few degrees below it. Haney, 25-0(15) is a superb boxer and he would likely test Lopez hard. Maybe these two would bring out the best in one another.
Haney says it’s tough making 135 but that he will continue to do it to get a massive fight with Lopez, 16-0(12). If he doesn’t get Lopez, “The Dream” told ESPN, he will move up to 140 pounds. It would be a shame if Haney and Lopez finished off their respective 135 pound careers without fighting each other. I don’t know about you, but I see a Lopez-Haney fight as a 50/50 affair.