Devin Haney Challenges Teófimo López as López Prepares to Fight Sandor Martín

It appeared that everything was going smoothly for the upcoming fight between American Teófimo López and Puerto Rican José Pedraza, but then Pedraza took ill and was forced to pull out. In steps the Spaniard Sandor Martín in a fight scheduled for December 10 in the Hulu Theater inside the legendary Madison Square Garden in New York. It’s a WBC 140-pound eliminator with the added incentive of a minor WBO belt.

The former world champion at 135 pounds, López (17-1, 13 KOs) ranks fourth on the WBC list, while the southpaw Martín (40-2, 13 KOs) is ranked fifth.

The WBC title was vacant, but on November 26, fellow American Regis “Rougarou” Prograis (28-1, 24 KOs) anesthetized his countryman José Zepeda in the eleventh round in Carson, California, and is now the WBC champion of that division.

In its recent Annual Convention, the WBC determined that Prograis must immediately face his compatriot José Carlos “El Jaguar” Ramírez (27-1, 17 KOs), who, because of a conflict with his wedding date in October, subsequently gave up his opportunity to fight Zepeda for the vacant title, allowing Prograis to step in.

Currently ranked in second place by the WBC, the thirty-year-old Ramírez had defeated Zepeda by majority decision in February 2019 in Fresno, California, where the victor defended his 140-pound belt for the second time.

By provision of the WBC, the winner of the match between Prograis and Ramírez has the obligation to fight the winner of López vs Martín.

López, 25, will be making his second presentation at 140 pounds after anesthetizing Mexican Pedro Campa (34-2-1, 23 KOs) in the seventh round last August in Las Vegas.

Nine months earlier, López suffered his only defeat as a professional fighter in his surprising loss by split decision to Australian George Kambosos Jr. in Madison Square Garden. Kambosos Jr took home the WBA, IBF and WBO 135-pound belts.

Martín, the twenty-nine-year-old southpaw, will be making his second foray before boxing fans in the United States. He has linked together a streak of 11 consecutive wins since September 2017 when he lost by unanimous decision to Swede Anthony Yigit who won the European title at 140 pounds.

In October of last year, Martín prevailed by majority decision in Fresno against multiple world champion Mikey García (40-2, 30 KOs), who last June announced on social media that he was retiring at the age of 34 years. “Retired World Champion 126, 130, 135 and 140 lbs,” Garcia wrote on his Instagram profile.

For his part, Martín, on April 1^st in Barcelona, won a 10-round unanimous decision against veteran José Félix, ​​where the vacant WBA International belt was at stake.

DEVIN HANEY CHALLENGES TEÓFIMO LÓPEZ

Motivated by his difficulties in reaching 135 pounds, the undefeated American Devin Haney (29-0, 15 KOs), the current undisputed champion of that division, seems to have begun paving the way to move up to junior welterweight.

Although there are reports that Haney’s camp is in talks with representatives for Ukrainian Vasily Lomachenko (17-2, 11 KOs), who leads the WBC and WBO rankings, Haney himself and his father have expressed interest in fighting Teófimo López at 140 pounds.

Just two days ago, Haney and Lopez exchanged tweets. Haney, the current champion, expressed: “Remember u chose kambosos to whip ur ass instead of me! Went a different direction & it almost cost you your life…gotta make smart choices”

Almost immediately López responded: “Awww!!! Come on baby girl. It’s okay’ when God brings Haney to my plate, I can’t wait to get you all truly BIG MAD! Stay blessed” Haney then shot back minutes later: “Ain’t no match yet (referring to the Lomachenko fight)… might just come to 140 & (f*&!) u up!”

López’s new response was not long in coming: “& as for @Realdevinhaney focus on your upcoming match with @VasylLomachenko, Young blood! I got work to do here at the 140 division. I pray you enjoyed your 5 mins of fame! #BestOfLuck”

Article submitted by Jorge Juan Alvarez in Spanish.

Please note any adjustments made were for clarification purposes and any errors in translation were unintentional.

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