Devin Haney’s Yellow Streak: Bill’s Panicked Efforts To Lure Teofimo Lopez Away From A Real Fight

Devin Haney’s dad, Bill Haney, is sounding desperate, pushing Teofimo Lopez to fight Devin next rather than the fight Turki Alalshikh wants against unified welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis. Bill is squawking about how if something went haywire with Ryan Garcia’s tune-up on May 2nd, Teofimo was supposed to fight Devin (32-0, 15 KOs) next. Unfortunately for Bill, there was no contract for that. It was just a verbal thing.

(Credit: Geoffrey Knott/Matchroom)

Turki’s Undisputed Decision

It’s too late for Devin. Turki has spoken, saying he’s in negotiations with Boots’ promoter Eddie Hearn to make the fight with Teofimo. Unless Lopez asks for some absurd money, this fight is happening. Once Turki has decided on a fight he wants, that’s it. Bill needs to start thinking about finding another opponent for Devin to rebuild his confidence, because he looked like a broken shell in his last fight against Jose Ramirez.

Teofimo (22-1, 13 KOs) wants the big fish, Jaron Ennis (34-0, 30 KOs), because that’s where the money and the prestige are for him. Ennis looked like 24k gold in his latest fight, destroying Eimantas Stanionis last April. In contrast, Haney looked terrible in his tune-up fight against Jose Ramirez on the Times Square card on May 2nd. Devin looked like someone had put the dogs on him. It was ugly for the small VIP crowd to watch.

You could tell that the fans were unhappy with what they were watching. Winning in that fashion is worse than a loss for Haney, because he showed a yellow streak.

Redemption Fights Suggested

Devin needs to start over after that effort by taking on another step-up confidence builder. My suggestion is that Haney fight one of these killers next to redeem himself:

– Shakhram Giyasov
– Keyshawn Davis
– Andy Cruz
– Ernesto Mercado
– Gary Antuanne Russell
– Serhii Bohachuk – *154-lb contender but same size as Haney

Bill Sounds Tormented

“It was understood that we talked about it [Teofimo fighting Haney next], and that’s what Turki is doing right now,” said Bill Haney to Boxing Scene about Teofimo Lopez needing to fight Devin Haney next. “Why would Teofimo Lopez act like he’s looking for ‘Boots’? I thought you were looking for the big-money fight? That’s what you complained about your whole career.’

As you can see, Bill sounds tormented about not getting the Teofimo fight for Devin. Oh well, that’s how it goes. Teo is ambitious, and he won’t waste time fighting Haney after how he performed in his last two fights. There’s no value in Lopez throwing a bone to Devin after those two fights.

“Now there’s nowhere else to run and no place else to hide. I want to know what you’ve been scared of. This is the ultimate grudge match, and y’all are running from it,” said a desperate-sounding Bill.