Turki Al Sheikh revealed tonight on X his plans to hold a mini-tournament featuring Jaron “Boots” Ennis vs. Teofimo Lopez on the Ryan Garcia vs. Devin Haney 2 card in October in Riyadh. The winners of these two fights will face each other in February, and the losers will meet on the same card.
Turkish championship
Turki says he still needs to speak with Matchroom, Golden Boy Promotions and PBC to let them know his plans to use their fighters.
It's tough for Teofimo Lopez (21-1, 13 KOs) to move up to 147 pounds to face 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. Ryan Garcia – *Winners Bracket
- Devin Haney vs. Teofimo Lopez – Losers' Consolation
Lopez's punching power gives him an excellent opportunity to beat Haney. At 147 years old, Ennis is probably too big, too strong and too experienced for Ryan.
Of course, Teofimo wants to fight Ennis because it gives him a big payday and a chance to prove himself against an elite level fighter. As long as Teo is able to compete in a losing effort, his stock will rise as he is now bogged down at 140, languishing in a dead division, and fighting nameless opposition.
When you look at the matches, this is an ideal situation for IBF welterweight champion Boots Ennis as he has an excellent chance of being the last man standing. He would be the favorite to defeat Teofimo in October and then defeat the winner of Garcia vs. Haney 2. Ennis would have the size and experience advantage at 147 against either fighter in the mini-tournament that Turki proposes.
Ryan fights Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz in May, and Haney fights Jose Ramirez on the same card in Times Square in New York. None of these fights were beneficial for Rayyan and Hani, but they don't seem to like it, and it doesn't matter if they lose. Turki hasn't said anything about Cruz or Ramirez getting a chance to fight on his October card, but you have to believe he'll use them later in one of his events.
Turkish vision
It's easy…we fight in May then the big rematch in October and on the same card we will try Teo vs Potts then winner vs winner and loser vs loser in February…we need to discuss the top ranking with our partners, match room, golden boy and BBC 🥊 🔥
– Turki Al-Sheikh (@Turki_alalshikh) January 18, 2025
