Devin Haney claims Teofimo Lopez has decided not to fight him, and the negotiations for their planned fight on August 16th in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, are now off. Haney, 26, says he’d been waiting “for days” for Lopez to sign his part of the contract, but then he informed them he didn’t want the fight.
Haney: Lopez Pulled Out
Devin labels the move as a “duck” on Lopez’s part, but he’s not happy about it. This was a match that the former two-division world champion Haney (32-0, 15 KOs) wanted after his previous plans to face Ryan Garcia in a rematch in October imploded after his loss to Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero on May 2nd at Times Square in New York.
“I did my part. We waited for days for Teo to sign his part of the contract, and he came out and said this isn’t a fight he wants to make,” said Devin Haney to The Ring about the collapse of his negotiations with Teofimo Lopez for their August 16th fight.
“I’m still willing to make the biggest and best fights. I’m looking forward to working with His Excellency, Riyadh Season, and The Ring on the best possible opponent. Teo is a f***** duck.”
Haney didn’t reveal why Lopez chose not to go through with the fight. For Teofimo, it would be a high-risk, low-reward type of contest going up against Haney, because his stock is low right now after his performance against Jose Ramirez on May 2nd.
Is Teofimo Weaseling?
Losing to Haney would ruin Teofimo’s chances of getting a fight against unified welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots ‘Boots’ Ennis. That’s the one that Lopez wants, because it would pay well, and the backlash for losing wouldn’t be as severe. Getting beaten by Haney would be more damaging to Teofimo’s career than losing to Ennis.
It’s still too early to know for sure if the negotiations between Haney and Teofimo are permanently off. This appears to be posturing by Lopez to try to weasel more money for his purse.
Boxing News | Devin Haney Reveals Teofimo Lopez Pulled Out of August 16th Riyadh Fight, Citing Contract Refusal
