Now that Ryan Garcia has changed his mind about finally fighting Devin Haney, Bill Haney and his son have shifted their attention toward another rival.
A showdown with Teofimo Lopez is the newly crowned WBC super lightweight champion’s highest-profile alternative to fighting Garcia in the 140-pound division. Bill Haney informed FightHype.com’s Sean Zittel on Saturday night in Las Vegas that Devin Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) will gladly oppose Lopez when Lopez is ready for that title unification fight, hopefully later this year.
“Listen, whenever Teo ready,” Bill Haney said after attending the Vergil Ortiz Jr.-Fredrick Lawson card at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. “He got work to do with Jamaine Ortiz, my Muslim brother.”
The Brooklyn-born, Las Vegas-based Lopez (19-1, 13 KOs) is scheduled to defend his WBO junior welterweight title versus Ortiz on February 8 in Las Vegas. Their 12-round, 140-pound championship clash will be broadcast by ESPN during Super Bowl week from Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino’s Michelob ULTRA Arena.
While Bill Haney and his son want to settle their business with Lopez, Bill Haney has agreed to help Ortiz prepare for his shot at Lopez’s championship.
“I told Jamaine I had mixed emotions,” Bill Haney said. “Obviously, he coming in to steal something that’s the ultimate grudge match in Lopez. But him, as my Muslim brother, I will not deny him of any information or intel I got in beating the Lopez family. You know what I’m saying? But it’s bittersweet, you hear me?”
FanDuel sportsbook lists Lopez as an 8-1 favorite over Ortiz, but Ortiz gave three-division champion Vasiliy Lomachenko a difficult fight in October 2022. Lomachenko overcame his slow start to beat Ortiz unanimously on the scorecards (117-111, 116-112, 115-113), but Ortiz’s performance enhanced his standing in the boxing world.
Ortiz (17-1-1, 8 KOs), of Worcester, Massachusetts, has moved up from the lightweight division to junior welterweight for his shot at Lopez’s title.
Garcia, meanwhile, surprisingly announced Saturday on social media that he is no longer interested in challenging Haney next. Oscar De La Hoya, whose company promotes Garcia, and representatives for Haney had already engaged in preliminary discussions about matching them next.
Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs), of Victorville, California, instead wants to battle WBA super lightweight champ Rolly Romero (15-1, 13 KOs).
“I’ve notified my team I’m going a different route,” Garcia wrote in a message posted on X. “My intent now is to fight Rolando Romero. I pray my team backs me on this decision. Oscar make this fight happen. THAT’S THE MOVE. BIGGER FIGHT, BIGGER BUSINESS. #GarciaRomero.”
North Las Vegas’ Romero might be forced, however, to make a mandated defense against Ismael Barroso next. The 40-year-old Venezuelan veteran dropped Ohara Davies (25-3, 18 KOs) twice and knocked him out in the first round to win the WBA interim super lightweight title on the Ortiz-Lawson undercard.
The WBA previously ordered Romero to fight the Barroso-Davies winner by March 20. Romero controversially stopped Barroso (25-4-2, 22 KOs) in the ninth round of their May 13 fight at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.