Teofimo Lopez and Devin Haney go at each other at the Times Square Roundtable!
Boxing has always had its share of heated rivalries and memorable trash talk. Muhammad Ali’s verbal artistry revolutionized the sport’s promotion back in the day. Mike Tyson threatened to eat Lennox Lewis’s children. Floyd Mayweather and Oscar De La Hoya couldn’t be in the same room without sparks flying. The sweet science has never been short on drama outside the ring.
These heated exchanges often sell more tickets than the actual fights themselves. Boxing promoters know this well and have been putting potential rivals in close proximity for decades. Sometimes, even fighters who aren’t scheduled to face each other can’t help but get drawn into the verbal sparring. That’s exactly what happened yesterday at the Times Square media roundtable.
Devin Haney and Teofimo Lopez turned what should have been a routine press event into must-see TV. Both fighters are set to compete on the same blockbuster card next month during the Cinco De Mayo Weekend but against different opponents. Haney will face Jose Ramirez and Lopez will take on Arnold Barboza Jr. However, when seated at adjacent chairs, they couldn’t resist the opportunity to reignite their longstanding feud.
Barboza Jr. started off the conversation, taking a shot at Lopez about him getting beat by George Kambosos Jr. (this is a loss on Lopez’s record). Lopez denied the accusation, saying he got himself beat by his own actions. That is when Devin Haney joined the conversation, asking Lopez if “So when you fought, did he beat your a** or not?” That is when Teofimo Lopez dropped the bomb.
“I put him [Kambosos Jr.] down in the 10th round with my conditions on top of that. And you should’t be talking about beating a**es because the man to my left [Ryan Garcia] done whoop that.”
The bad blood stems partly from their complicated championship lineage. Lopez defeated Vasiliy Lomachenko to become the undisputed lightweight champion in 2020, a historic victory that shook up the boxing world. Haney later collected all the belts himself after Lopez moved up in weight following a surprising loss to George Kambosos Jr.
Despite the obvious animosity, boxing fans won’t see these two settle their differences in the ring next month. Both are headlining the same card but facing different opponents. The card itself is already generating significant buzz in boxing circles. The unexpected fireworks will likely translate to additional pay-per-view buys.
(Image Credit: Joe Camporeale – Imagn Images)
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