Bill Haney Still Pushing Teofimo Lopez Fight, Despite Fallout

Bill Haney hasn’t given up on pushing for the Teofimo Lopez fight for Devin Haney, despite Teo saying he’s been “fired” by Turki Alalshikh. Bill is still mentioning Teofimo’s name on social media, saying he’s “ducking.”

(Credit: Matchroom)

Bill Haney Still Wants Teofimo

There had been talk of a fight between Haney and Teofimo scheduled for August 16th in Riyadh. That no longer seems viable after Lopez burned his bridges with Alalshikh. Bill is like a dog that won’t let go of an old bone. Whatever ambition Devin once had to win world titles, it appears to be gone after being trounced by Ryan Garcia and getting a taste of millions.

Haney’s Limited Big Options

Devin has limited options for big paydays without Ryan Garcia or Teofimo. There aren’t any popular fighters at 140 besides Teo. At welterweight, there’s only champion Jaron Ennis and Conor Benn. Ennis isn’t going to fight a needy fighter like Haney because he doesn’t have a belt, and he’s coming off a disastrous performance.

Potential Options

– Jaron Ennis
– Teofimo Lopez
– Ryan Garcia
– Shakur Stevenson

The Lopez fight is now the biggest money-maker for Devin, following the cancellation of the rematch with Ryan Garcia after his loss to Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero on May 2nd.

“Teofimo Lopez keeps ducking,” said Bill Haney on X.  Devin Haney keeps working,” said Bill Haney on X.

Devin Haney: Businessman Now?

Bill hasn’t shown any interest in targeting any of the other top 140-pounders, like Gary Antuanne Russell or Richardson Hitchins. What some people say about Devin could be true. He’s gone from being a fighter to being a businessman who is just focused on money at this point. That’s what happens sometimes, once fighters get a taste of money. They focus on getting nothing but big payday fights and reject anything else. Waiting for those big paydays to fall into their laps often requires a year or more.

Fans want Bill and Devin to forget about Teofimo for now. They want to see Haney (32-0, 15 KOs) prove himself against one of the top fighters at 140 or 147. However, Bill and his son seem to have lost all interest in taking risky fights since their loss to Ryan last year in April.

They sat out of the ring for an entire year until coming back against the faded Jose Ramirez on May 2nd. That was a terrible performance by Haney, running for 12 rounds, throwing only a handful of punches in arguably the most boring performance on the Times Square card.

If Haney was still interested in competing against the best and winning belts, he would have tons of options for his next fight. There are a lot of contenders from 140 to 154 that Devin could fight and make good money. He’s probably not going to do that because his focus has changed.