Teofimo Lopez Backs Devin Haney to Beat Shakur Stevenson at 147

Teofimo Lopez lost almost every round to Shakur Stevenson back in January at Madison Square Garden, shipping his WBO super-lightweight belt in the process. So when Lopez calls a fight between Stevenson and Devin Haney, you'd expect him to lean toward the guy who just schooled him. He doesn't. Lopez told Daily Mail Boxing he thinks Haney beats the Newark southpaw.

That pick lands with extra weight this week, because Lopez just rebuilt himself as a three-division world champion. He moved up to welterweight, edged WBA titleholder Rolando Romero by majority decision in Las Vegas, and instantly reinserted himself into one of the deepest title picture in boxing. For a fighter who looked comprehensively outclassed seven months ago, that's a fast turnaround.

From a Bad Night to a Big Belt

The Stevenson loss was ugly by Lopez's standards — a wide, one-sided decision that cost him his 140-pound title and forced a rethink. The answer was to go up in weight rather than chase a rematch. Lopez had been linked to Haney at welterweight, but the fight didn't materialize, so he took Romero instead and got the job done.

Romero was live enough to make it a majority verdict rather than a runaway, but Lopez left Vegas with the WBA strap and, more importantly, leverage. Three divisions is three divisions. It buys you a seat at every unification conversation at 147.

The Welterweight Traffic Jam

And that division is genuinely stacked right now. Haney sits at 33-0 (15 KO) as the WBO champion, coming off a unanimous-decision win over Brian Norman Jr. Ryan Garcia holds the WBC belt. Liam Paro, 28-1 (16 KO), owns the IBF version after outpointing Lewis Crocker. That's a lot of belts and a lot of names for Lopez to hunt.

Lopez is openly eyeing unifications, name-checking both Haney and Garcia as the marquee options. Either would be a major event. The problem is timing — everyone at welterweight has their own dance card.

Garcia is already booked, facing Conor Benn on September 12. Benn arrives at 25-1 (14 KO) off a unanimous-decision win over Regis Prograis, though he's unranked at the weight. Haney, meanwhile, is reportedly targeting an October unification with Paro, but those talks have stalled, which leaves a door ajar.

What Comes Next for Lopez

There's also a bureaucratic cloud over Lopez's own future. It's unclear whether he's mandated to face WBA regular champion Jack Catterall — 33-2 (14 KO) and ranked #9 — after the WBA's order for a Catterall-Romero bout came under scrutiny. Sanctioning-body chaos is the tax you pay for collecting belts.

So Lopez's Haney pick is more than idle talk. If he genuinely rates Haney over Stevenson, and he wants a unification, he's essentially telling us who he'd rather chase — and who he thinks is the real man to beat at 147. That's a bold read given Stevenson made him look ordinary in January.

For Haney, the endorsement matters little until the Paro negotiations move. For Stevenson, Lopez's dismissal is fuel. And for Lopez himself, the message is simple: he's not done, he's up a division, and he's already talking like the guy who wants to clean out the weight class.