Teofimo Lopez was never convinced that Devin Haney was on his level as a fighter. After Haney’s clear but dismal decision over trial horse Yuriorkis Gamboa on Nov. 9., he is certain that Haney is not on his level as a performer either.
“Honestly, there’s not much to the table that (Haney) brings,” Lopez, 23, said on The 3 Knockdown Rule Podcast. “There’s a lot of promotional mindset that I gotta bring out. Same thing with (Vasyl) Loma (chenko), but with Loma there was the amount of accomplishments and the pedigree that he (had) in the boxing world, so that helped.
Lopez (16-0, 12 KOs) won a clear decision over Ukrainian whiz Lomachenko on Oct. 18 in a lightweight unification that many considered to be one of the top upsets of the year. Lomachenko, unlike Gamboa, has long been perceived as one of the best fighters in the sport. The thinking was that the 22-year-old Haney (25-0, 15 KOs) needed to look impressive against a shot Gamboa, to score an early knockout, instead of a dull decision, which is what ended up happening.
“With Haney, he’s still young, he has two, three years to make that type of fight happened,” Lopez said. “He needs to develop. He don’t have it. He don’t. And when he tax him up and do what we do, what am I going to hear from everybody else? I knew the excuses that were brought up with Loma, which is why I didn’t mention any injuries prior to the fight.”
“We bring the marbles of boxing to the table.”
Lopez’s father Teofimo Lopez Sr. was also clearly unimpressed with Haney’s low-energy performance against Gamboa.
“That was disgusting, bro,” Lopez Sr. chimed in. “I say that because my boy Rolly (lightweight prospect Rolando Romero) beat the crap out of Gamboa in sparring. He dropped him like three times and this was the good Gamboa, like three, four years ago. Why fight these guys?
“Lets say we could fight Gamboa, do you know how much sh-t we would get for that? But it’s okay for Haney and Tank to get that?”
