Former unified lightweight champion, Teofimo Lopez, has had his say on the potential lightweight clash between undisputed champion Devin Haney and two-time Olympic gold medallist Vasily Lomachenko, whom Lopez beat in 2020.
Haney beat George Kambosos Jr twice to first win and then defend the undisputed crown, but amateur veteran Vasily Lomachenko is still regarded by many fans as a top fifteen pound-for-pound fighter.
The war in Ukraine stunted Loma’s campaign to reclaim his world title, but ‘The Matrix’ is finally back and is a man on a mission with Haney well and truly in his sights.
Lopez was in attendance of Lomachenko’s comeback fight, where he beat Jamaine Ortiz by unanimous decision, and spoke to FightHype.com, where he went against the general consensus and picked challenger ‘Loma’ to overthrow the young champion.
“I got to give it to Loma, it’s just different man, I would say Devin [Haney] would give him a real good fight if Devin had that pop, killer-instinct.
Devin is a fighter that knows what he is doing in there, however you need to keep somebody like that, that’s such a technician like Loma, you’ve got to keep him somewhat at bay. That’s the only way. Backing off and throwing the jab, sticking and moving, isn’t always going to work with Loma, he’s faced a lot of tough fighters like that.”
The fight looks to be all but made, with Top Rank’s Bob Arum confirming that it’s likely the next fight for both. Many fans were shocked at the size difference between the two when Haney entered the ring after Lomachenko’s victory.
Meanwhile, Teofimo Lopez faces Jose Pedraza on December 10th as he looks to mount a new world title challenge of his own in the super-lightweight division.