Devin Haney and Teofimo Lopez won’t be squaring off anytime soon.
Talks have collapsed for a Haney vs. Lopez bout, which was being negotiated to take place at a 145-pound catchweight on an Aug. 16 card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
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Haney announced the news on social media Tuesday afternoon after reports emerged late Monday that a fight between the pair had been signed.
the fight with Teo is not signed! I signed my part & Teo has been stalling. As of today he has decided he doesn’t wanna fight me he is officially the biggest [duck]
& I wanted the fight at 147 he wanted the fight at 140 we negotiated to meet at 145 even though he was willing to fight boots at 147
Haney (32-0, 15 KOs) and Lopez (22-1, 13 KOs) both secured victories on the May 2 Times Square card, with Haney winning a dull decision over Jose Ramirez and Lopez comfortably beating Arnold Barboza Jr. in a sublime showing to retain his WBO super lightweight title.
Turki Alalshikh had hoped to make a rematch between Haney and Ryan Garcia and a fight between Lopez and the unified welterweight champion Jaron “Boots” Ennis. However, with Garcia losing to Rolando “Rolly” Romero in a stunning upset, and Ennis declining the matchup against Lopez, Alalshikh shifted his focus to making a Haney vs. Lopez bout instead.
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Both boxers agreed on terms to face each other, but after Lopez’s spree of deleted tweets criticizing Alalshikh last week, negotiations were temporarily sidelined until Lopez publicly apologized to Alalshikh on Sunday. Haney reportedly signed his part of the deal to face Lopez on Aug. 16, but Lopez ultimately chose not to go through with the fight.
Haney, 26, and Lopez, 27, previously held all four of the world titles at lightweight after Lopez’s upset over Vasiliy Lomachenko in October 2020 for three belts, while Haney was WBC champion. Lopez, however, lost his unified crown to George Kambosos Jr., whom Haney then dominated twice to become undisputed champion.
The pair also owned world titles at super lightweight for a short period of time, but soon after Haney’s no contest with Garcia in April 2024, he chose to move up to welterweight.
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