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Turki Al-Sheikh revealed tonight on X his plans for a mini-tournament in which Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis fights Teofimo López on the Ryan Garcia vs. Devin Haney 2 in October in Riyadh. The winners of those two fights will meet in February and the losers will meet on the same card.
Turki Tournament
Turki says he still needs to talk to Matchroom, Golden Boy Promotions and PBC to inform them of 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 to be the king of the welterweight division, IBF champion Jaron Ennis.
When the smoke clears, these are the fights we’ll likely see in February.
- Jaron Ennis vs. Ryan García – *Winners Bracket
- Devin Haney vs. Teófimo López – Consolation of the losers
Lopez’s punching power gives him an excellent chance of beating Haney. At 147, Ennis would probably be too big, too strong and too experienced for Ryan.
Of course, Teofimo wants to fight Ennis because it gives him a big paycheck and the chance to prove himself against an elite fighter. As long as Teo is competitive in a losing effort, his stock will rise because right now he’s stultifying at 140, languishing in a dead division and fighting nameless opposition.
When you look at the matchups, it’s an ideal situation for IBF welterweight champion Boots Ennis because he has an excellent chance of being the last man standing. He would be a big favorite to defeat Teófimo in October and then defeat the winner of García vs. Haney 2. Ennis would have the size and experience advantage of 147 against any of the wrestlers in Turki’s proposed mini-tournament.
Ryan will fight Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz in May, and Haney will fight José Ramírez on the same card in Times Square in New York. None of these fights are a gift to Ryan and Haney, but it doesn’t seem to matter if they lose. Turki isn’t saying anything about Cruz or Ramirez getting a chance to fight on his October card, but you’d have to believe he’d use them at some point later on one of his events.
Turki’s vision
It’s easy… fight in May, then the big rematch in October and on the same card we will test Teo against BOOTS, then the winner against the winner and the loser against the loser in February… we need to discuss it with our top rank partners and matchroom and goldenboy and PBC 🥊🔥
— TURKI ALALSHIKH (@Turki_alalshikh) January 18, 2025
