Last year, Lopez himself challenged Devin to a fight after he changed his mind about retiring from boxing.
World Champion according to WBC in the first welterweight Devin Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) announced the withdrawal of the WBO title holder in the same division Teofimo Lopez (21–1, 13 KOs) from a joint fight in 2024.
“I was supposed to return to the ring in October in Saudi Arabia and the next fight was supposed to be Teo. Turki [Аль Аш-Шейх] offered him a fight. He said he wasn’t ready,” Devin emphasized.
Earlier, in 2023, Teofimo himself challenged Haney when the latter was the undisputed lightweight champion of the world. Recall that Lopez initially announced that he was ending his boxing career and giving up the championship title, but later changed his mind about leaving boxing and declared his readiness to defend his belt.
Haney had his last fight in late April in Brooklyn against Ryan Garcia. Devin was knocked down three times during the fight. According to the judges’ scorecards, Ryan triumphed (by split decision), but did not take the championship belt from Haney, as he exceeded the agreed upon weight class limit.
In late May, it became known that Garcia had failed a second doping test after the aforementioned fight. The second sample, like the first, showed a positive result for ostarine, a drug used to improve endurance. Therefore, Haney remains undefeated in the professional ring, and his fight against Ryan Garcia was declared a no contest.
At the end of August, renowned promoter Eddie Hearn announced that a unification fight between Haney and IBF title holder Liam Parot (25-0, 15 KOs) could take place in December.
As for Lopez, in his last fight (on the night of June 30), the American boxer successfully defended his title again, defeating Canadian Steve Claggett by unanimous decision.
After that, Teofimo first called out Isaac Cruz (26-2-1, 18 KOs), the WBA light welterweight titleholder, and then announced his intention to change divisions and fight former absolute champion in two weight categories Terence Crawford.
Source: Sportarena
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