In a textbook case of making lemonade, Lance Pugmire reports that Devin Haney and Teofimo Lopez “have each signed a contract” to meet on August 16th in Saudi Arabia.
The pair will meet at a 145-pound catchweight.
In what’s becoming a theme for 2025, Haney’s (32-0, 15 KO) plan for a revenge bout with Ryan Garcia went up in smoke when Garcia stank out the joint in a loss to Rolly Romero. “The Dream” was admittedly a bit fragrant himself in a dull-as-dishwater decision over Jose Ramirez that same evening, and as he technically lacks hardware after Alberto Puello supplanted him at 140, there was seemingly no clear backup plan.
Enter Lopez (22-1, 13 KO), who’d just turned in his best performance in quite some time against Arnold Barboza Jr. “The Takeover” proceeded to call out welterweight kingpin Jaron “Boots” Ennis, but it seems as though he’s snagged a very different big-name foe.
This doesn’t promise to be anywhere near as entertaining as Lopez vs Ennis, which could have been a wild shootout, but it’s at least interesting on a conceptual level. A functional Haney has the style to give Lopez fits, but we may have already seen the last of that guy.
