Devin Haney respects what Teofimo Lopez accomplished in the ring last month.

Haney wholeheartedly disagrees, however, with the contention that Lopez’s upset of Vasiliy Lomachenko made him boxing’s undisputed lightweight champion. According to Haney, Lopez must defeat him, too, to make that championship claim.

The 21-year-old Haney explained his position during an appearance Wednesday on “The Ak & Barak Show,” which streams Monday through Friday on DAZN and SiriusXM.

“I mean, you know, I think that he’s a good boxer,” said Haney, who will battle Cuba’s Yuriorkis Gamboa on Saturday night. “I do think that him and Top Rank [Lopez’s promoter] are trying to brainwash the fans with this email thing, just putting out false information, you know, just to try to prove that he’s undisputed, when in reality, he’s not because how can you be undisputed when your next opponent can’t fight for undisputed? So, you’re not undisputed. Your next opponent, if it’s not Devin Haney, cannot fight for undisputed unless they go petition for it, like he did. And petition for a franchise title, not undisputed.”

Brooklyn’s Lopez (16-0, 12 KOs) won the WBA “super”, WBC “franchise” and WBO titles from Ukraine’s Lomachenko (14-2, 10 KOs), whom Lopez out-pointed unanimously in their 12-round, 135-pound title unification fight October 17 at MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas. Lopez also retained his IBF belt, which he won by stopping Ghana’s Richard Commey (29-3, 26 KOs) in the second round last December 14 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Haney holds the WBC world lightweight belt, but he was elevated from interim champion to world champion once the WBC designated Lomachenko as its franchise champion late last year. Lopez playfully calls Haney “the email champion” because he only won the WBC’s interim title in the ring.

Lomachenko legitimately won the then-vacant WBC lightweight title when he out-boxed England’s Luke Campbell and won a 12-round unanimous decision in August 2019 at O2 Arena in London. Less than two weeks after Lomachenko beat Campbell (20-3, 16 KOs), Haney stopped Russia’s Zaur Abdullaev (12-1, 8 KOs) after four one-sided rounds to earn the WBC’s interim lightweight title at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater in New York.

Haney was the mandatory challenger for Lomachenko’s championship when the WBC named Lomachenko its franchise lightweight champion and promoted Haney from interim champ to world champ. When the WBC introduced its franchise designation in June 2019, the Mexico City-based sanctioning organization stressed that franchise championships could not be won or lost in the ring.

Lomachenko never lost the WBC lightweight title in the ring and the WBC sanctioned Lopez-Lomachenko as a fight for its franchise title. The three-division champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist also was widely viewed as one of the top three boxers, pound-for-pound, in the sport when Lopez toppled him.

Las Vegas’ Haney told Barak Bess and Akin Reyes during their show that he inquired with the WBC before Lopez fought Lomachenko regarding whether they would fight for the undisputed lightweight championship.

“Yeah, yeah, I did,” Haney said. “And they said that he’s not undisputed, that it’s Top Rank and they’re trying to push that narrative, they’re trying to brainwash the people. But in reality, he never came and cleared it up, so, you know, it has something to do with him as well.”

Haney quickly reiterated that Lopez cannot legitimately claim he is the undisputed lightweight champion.

“No, he’s not,” Haney said. “It’s no way that he can be. He has the franchise title – he can’t be undisputed. It’s a fact.”

DAZN will stream the 12-round bout between Haney (24-0, 15 KOs) and Gamboa (30-3, 18 KOs) as the main event Saturday night from Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida (8 p.m. ET; 5 p.m. PT). 

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.