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By: Hans Themistode
It was an inevitable collision course. One that Bill Haney, father of WBC lightweight titlist Devin Haney, was looking forward to.
With both his son and former unified lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez engaging in nonstop trash talk for the past few years, the pair appeared entangled in an upcoming showdown. Yet, before both stars would go on to share the ring with one another, each fighter had business to attend to.
For Haney, the 23-year-old Las Vegas resident is set to defend his crown against whom he describes as the most dangerous fighter of his career in Joseph Diaz. The two will officially square off on December 4th, this upcoming weekend at MGM Grand Garden Arena. But while Haney continues to put the finishing touches on an arduous training camp, both he and his father tuned in with the hopes that Lopez would hold up his end of the bargain first.
At Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater in New York City this past Saturday night, Lopez took on sizable underdog, George Kambosos Jr. Although Lopez predicted an emphatic knockout victory, he was in for the shock of a lifetime. On the night, the Aussie dropped Lopez in the opening round before eking out a close split decision victory.
As Kambosos Jr. now begins life as a unified lightweight champion, Bill Haney can’t help but become irate as mountains upon mountains of money have effectively been flushed down the drain.
“I think Teo done f*cked the money up,” said Haney during an interview with ChampSide. “It’s definitely gut-wrenching because everybody wanted to see that fight with Devin and Teo.”
Though Haney is apoplectic over the lost funds, he’s now turned his direction towards his son and his ambitions of becoming an undisputed world champion. To the delight of the WBC belt holder, Kambosos Jr., immediately following the biggest win of his career, readily admitted that a showdown against Haney is one he craves more than any other.
Those words, unsurprisingly, are music to the ears of both Devin and his father. However, with Diaz standing firmly in his way, Bill doesn’t want his son to focus on anything other than the former world champion.
“Kambosos did great. We look forward to the opportunity but we have to handle our business of course with Jojo Diaz. We can’t look past him.”
With Lopez vs. Haney now appearing to be a thing of the past, Bill is still baffled by what took place this past weekend. As Lopez’s time at the top of the 135-pound mountain top has now come to an end, Bill Haney offers an explanation as to why the now fallen star was knocked off his high horse.
“He looked overconfident and out of shape.”
