Bill Haney is attending Josh Taylor-Teofimo Lopez with a view to Devin Haney moving to 140lbs and fighting the winner of Saturday’s fight.
The 32-year-old Taylor defends his WBO super lightweight title against Lopez at the theatre at Madison Square Garden, and after previously considering moving up to welterweight appears likely to remain at 140lbs.
Haney has long considered moving up in weight because of his long-term struggles to make the lightweight limit, but if he does so now – particularly if he re-signs with Top Rank – he will be walking away from lucrative fights with Shakur Stevenson and Vasyl Lomachenko.
The winner of the fight between Taylor and the 25-year-old Lopez would regardless prove almost as lucrative, but the father, trainer and manager of the undisputed lightweight champion said that he is still deciding where his future lies in the context of both his weight division and promoter, even if it increasingly seems likely that it is at super lightweight and with Top Rank.
“I’m going to let him make that announcement,” Bill Haney told ProBox TV. “He just told me, ‘Go take a look at all the fights – take a look at this fight’, because we’ve never looked at 140lbs. He’s been at 135lbs his whole career.
“This is the first time I’m actually looking. Come look at the weigh-in; look at the fight; look at how big the guys are or aren’t, and go from there.
“He made 135lbs [last month against Lomachenko]. It’s never comfortable, comfortable, but it’s not impossible.
“He’s been there his whole career, and it’s fair to say that it’s time for him to move on. He’s done everything in the division. He’s undisputed; he’s defended across the water; he’s defended at home. When he decides to make the decision, I’m supportive of whichever one he decides.
“Top Rank is an ethical promotional company. Ultimately Devin has to decide which direction he wants to go in, and for whatever reasons he decides. It could be more than just this one fight; it could be several different reasons to why he decides to partner with Top Rank more in his career, but he’s going to have to make that decision.”
Haney was then asked why it was he was wearing a WBO jacket and when he next expects his son to fight, and he responded: “What title is on the line right now [between Taylor and Lopez]? He averages [fighting] every five months. Every four to five months.
“Anything [including a rematch with Lomachenko] is a possibility, but he won unanimously. It wasn’t a fight that Lomachenko ever was trying to give us [when he was champion]. It was something that we wanted to give the fans; we wanted to solidify Lomachenko’s name on Devin’s resume, and we’ve done those things.
“Devin will decide what he wants to do. It’s for me to put everything on the table – all the possibilities and scenarios – and then we draw up something that’s most favourable for him.”
Bob Arum’s Top Rank not only oversaw Haney’s past three fights, they also continue to promote Stevenson, Lomachenko, Taylor, and for Saturday at least, Lopez.
“He’ll sign with us if we offer him attractive fights,” he told ProBox TV. “We have a great relationship with him, and we get along really well, but it’s a question of what attractive fights we have for Devin.
"I’ll be discussing that in the weeks to come with Bill and Devin, and if what we have to offer is appealing, of course they’re going to sign with us.
“There’s so many possibilities of major, big attractions that we can offer, and it’s up to them to go through ‘em all and pick what suits them.
“[A rematch with Lomachenko is] a possibility. Fight fans would love that fight. It would do even better. It did very well, but it would do even better commercially than the first fight.
“[The winner of Taylor-Lopez is] certainly another option.”
