Devin Haney tweeting over the weekend that "I will bet 7 figures on myself against anybody in my division" and calling himself the "#Boogeyman" at 135 pounds was all Teofimo Lopez Jr. needed to react.
On Sunday, Lopez took to his Twitter account and addressed Haney as bluntly as possible: "Shut the f— up kid.. damn you annoying!!!"
Upon reading that, Haney wasn't going to let his fellow lightweight champion have the last word.
"Teofimo always says ... 'he always got something to say,' but he never says that he will fight me or that he wants to fight me," Haney told FightHype.com in an interview posted Tuesday.
"My tweet was about how I'll put money up against whomever in the lightweight division, that I'll beat them," he continued. "He never said 'OK, well, I'll match that. Let's fight.'"
The thought of Haney, the WBC lightweight champion, fighting Lopez, the IBF titleholder, will probably have to wait, considering that Haney expects to face mandatory challenger Javier Fortuna and Lopez awaits a new date to clash with Vasiliy Lomachenko in a unified title matchup once the coronavirus pandemic subsides. Lomachenko holds the WBA and WBC straps, making the possibility of Haney facing the winner for undisputed glory enticing.
However, Haney previously told DAZN News that he's "not interested" in the latter bout due to Lomachenko and Lopez both fighting under Top Rank, and its CEO, Bob Arum, never showing an interest in pitting either champ against him.
"To be honest, I'm really not interested in that fight because neither one of those guys are interested in fighting me," Haney told DAZN News during a recent interview. "Bob Arum shows no interest in putting either one of those guys in the ring with me. Who knows if I'll ever get the winner."
Perhaps this bit of jawing between Haney and Lopez will change that possibility — as long as both fighters handle their respective business in the ring first.
Any way one slices it, though, the lightweight division seems destined for plenty of marquee fights with the likes of Haney, Lopez, Lomachenko, Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia all aiming for supremacy at 135 pounds.