‘I don’t believe that this move was for The Takeover’: Teofimo talks turning down Haney fight
Teofimo Lopez says Devin Haney doesn’t deserve a fight against him right now considering his last performance.
We now know that proposed fight between Teofimo Lopez and Devin Haney isn’t happening, but the exactly reason behind it has been a bit more convoluted. Teofimo Lopez’s manager would formally reference ‘personal reasons’ and a short turnaround for the reason why Lopez turned down the fight, but Lopez himself took to social media to give a seemingly different explanation as to his thought process.
“Truthfully, I don’t think the [Haneys] even deserve the acknowledgement to come back like this,” Lopez would say. “I don’t. After a sh-t performance like that, get a good win and let’s stir it up. But there is no reason for me to go all the way across the Middle East and I think that it’s poor for everybody else that we built this fight in the U.S.
“As a business analyst on that part — look, I only have promotional fees to pay Top Rank but I could go anywhere, wherever. You guys could possibly see me and Tank fight, you guys can possibly see me and Boots fight, you guys could possibly see other fights in line that could be made.
“Look, I’ve been working non-stop on how to cut the ring off. Barboza tried to move and we cut the ring off; we successfully did that and we won the fight unanimously. So I don’t have no issue with the whole situation. However, I don’t believe that this move was for The Takeover, I believe it was mainly for the Haneys.
“They published it while I was reading the contract. That right there already gave me a red flag. This is all in cahoots for the media to promote Haney because they had a sh-t performance.
“They Haneys may have their hands in the pockets of a lot of the media so it doesn’t do any justice for me at the moment. Let them simmer. They don’t have anybody else. Name me another fighter you guys will want to watch him fight.
“When I lost to Kambosos it was Bill Haney and Devin Haney hugging each other, going up and down, celebrating because they didn’t have to face me no more. The proof is in the pudding.
“The Haneys, we’ve had two options, two offers to face them. They never came to it and everybody always kept it hush. The moment this happens people are ready to butcher me. So it’s like at what cost and who’s really in control of this whole thing? I’m trying to show you guys there’s other ways to it.”