Teofimo Lopez vs. Shakur Stevenson Fight Weekend
The much-anticipated boxing match between Teofimo Lopez and Shakur Stevenson is set for Saturday night. It’s shaping up to be one of the most significant fights of the year.
However, things took a chaotic turn during the final weigh-in on Friday night at the Madison Square Garden Theater, where a brawl erupted.
A report indicated that a scuffle broke out multiple times. Bill Haney, father of WBO welterweight champion Devin Haney, was present and attempted to intervene.
While Haney was giving an interview with FightHubTV, the situation escalated. He paused to greet former WBO lightweight champion Keyshawn Davis, who’s on the undercard for the Lopez-Stevenson fight. Moments later, he encountered heavyweight contender Derek Chisora, who’s slated to face former WBC champion Deontay Wilder in April.
When Chisora appeared on a broadcast, Haney bolted mid-sentence to diffuse the rising tensions nearby.
Involved in the brawl was Delante “Tiger” Johnson, a welterweight contender who had previously made appearances on ESPN while under contract with Top Rank Boxing, and reportedly members of Haney’s team.
A video from the scene captured someone telling Johnson to “calm down” amid the chaos.
Another perspective showed Johnson seemingly provoked before moving towards several individuals just as the altercation began to die down.
After the incident, the MSG group released a statement expressing zero tolerance for violence at their events. They emphasized that any participant—attendee or not—engaging in violence risks being banned permanently from all events.
The NYPD noted they were not called to manage the situation.
For context, Johnson sparred with Stevenson a few years ago and recently improved his record to 17-0 with a knockout win over Niklaus Fraz at a Pro Box TV event.
Lopez stands at 22-1 with 13 KOs, with his most notable achievement being his victory against the top fighter at the time, Vasily Lomachenko, in 2020. Lopez, a Brooklyn native, last fought on May 2, where he beat Arnold Barboza to retain his WBO 140-pound title.
Stevenson, the 2016 Olympic silver medalist, boasts an unbeaten record of 24-0, including 11 knockouts, and comes into this fight following a unanimous decision win over challenger William Zepeda in July.
