LAS VEGAS – Teofimo Lopez hopes Devin Haney has improved since he beat Yuriorkis Gamboa six months ago.

The better Haney looks against Jorge Linares on Saturday night, the more promoters and fans will be interested in a Lopez-Haney fight next. The undefeated, unified lightweight champion doesn’t necessarily think Haney needs to knock out Linares, who has been beaten by technical knockout five times.

He must, however, perform better than he did during a convincing yet uninspiring 12-round, unanimous-decision defeat of Gamboa on November 7 in Hollywood, Florida. Las Vegas’ Haney (25-0, 15 KOs) beat Cuba’s Gamboa (30-4, 18 KOs) by wide distances on all three scorecards (120-107, 120-107, 118-109), but the smaller Gamboa was a month shy of his 39th birthday when they fought at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

“He needs to make a statement,” Lopez told krikya360.com following an open workout Tuesday at City Athletic Boxing Gym. “He can’t perform like he did with Gamboa. But whether he does or not, regardless, Devin Haney’s next.”

Lopez wants to settle his WBC lightweight championship issue with Haney in his next fight. That’ll at least require Haney to beat Linares and Lopez (16-0, 12 KOs) to win his IBF-mandated fight against Australia’s George Kambosos Jr. (19-0, 10 KOs) on June 19 at loanDepot Park in Miami.

The 23-year-old Lopez is completely confident he’ll beat Kambosos in their Triller Fight Club pay-per-view main event. Lopez, who owns the IBF, WBA, WBO and WBC franchise championships, isn’t as sure the skillful Haney will beat the experienced, accomplished Linares (47-5, 29 KOs) in their 12-round fight for Haney’s WBC world 135-pound championship at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob Ultra Arena (DAZN; 8 p.m. EDT; 5 p.m. PDT).

“All he needs to do is go out there and look the best that people have yet to see of him,” Lopez said of Haney. “He has to switch it up. He’s a one-dimensional fighter. You know, he’s just gonna throw jabs and move on his back foot and commit when he has to, close his eyes and hope for the best. But we don’t know. I have progressed at such a level, and maybe the same thing has happened for Devin Haney.

“You know, Linares hasn’t fought in a while, but he’s had the recovery time and the time to stay in shape in the gym. I remember when I seen Linares here at City Boxing, he would train even when he didn’t have a fight. So, I know that he’s ready already. He’s prepared. However, he got that rest in that he needed. Same way that Pacquiao and everybody else, we all need rest. Resting is part of the training. So, I think it’s gonna be a great fight. This is gonna be a tough task for Devin Haney.”

Tokyo’s Linares hasn’t fought in 15 months. The 35-year-old former WBA/WBC lightweight champ most recently knocked out Mexican veteran Carlos Morales (19-5-4, 8 KOs) in the fourth round of their scheduled 12-rounder in February 2020 at Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

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