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Turki Al-Sheikh revealed his plans for a mini-tournament tonight on X that will pit Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis against Teofimo Lopez on the Ryan Garcia vs. Devin Haney 2 in October in Riyadh. The winners of those two fights will face each other in February, and the losers will meet on the same card.
Turkey’s tournament
Turki says he still needs to talk to Matchroom, Golden Boi Promotions and PBC to let them know he plans to use their fighters.
Teofimo Lopez (21-1, 13 KOs) is struggling to move up to 147 pounds to fight what many fans believe is the king of the welterweight division, IBF champion Jaron Ennis.
When the smoke clears, these are the likely fights we’ll see in February.
- Jaron Ennis vs. Rian Garcia – *Winning Group
- Devin Haney vs. Teofimo Lopez – Consolation losers
Lopez’s punching power gives him an excellent chance to defeat Hani. At 147, Ennis would likely be too big, too strong and too experienced for Ryan.
Of course, Teofimo wants the fight with Ennis because it gives him a big payday and a chance to prove himself against an elite level fighter. As long as Theo is competitive in a losing effort, his stock will rise as he is currently choked at 140, languishing in a deadweight division and fighting unnamed opposition.
When you look at the matchups, it’s an ideal situation for IBF light heavyweight champion Boots Ennis as he has an excellent chance of being the last man standing. He would be a heavy favorite to beat Teofimo in October and then beat Garcia vs. Hani 2 winners. Ennis would have the size and experience advantage at 147 over any of the fighters in Turkey’s mini-tournament.
Ryan fights Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz in May and Hannay fights Jose Ramirez on the same card in New York’s Times Square. None of these fights are gimmicks for Ryan and Hani, but he doesn’t seem to like that it doesn’t matter if they lose. Turki isn’t saying anything about Cruz or Ramirez getting a chance to fight on their October card, but you have to believe they’ll use them at some point later in one of their events.
Turkey’s vision
it’s easy…fight in May then a big rematch in October and on the same card we’ll try Tea vs. BOOT then winner vs. winner and loser vs. loser in February… we need to talk to our partners about the top tier and the match and goldenboi and PBC 🥊 🔥
— TURKI ALALSHIKH (@Turki_alalshikh) January 18, 2025
