Turki Al-Sheikh revealed his plans tonight for Teofimo Lopez to battle IBF welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis on the Ryan Garcia vs. Devin Haney 2 card in October. The winners will meet in the final in February in Riyadh. The losers of the Ennis-Lopez and Garcia-Haney 2 fights will meet on the same card in February.
Al-Sheikh wants to discuss his idea with Matchroom, Top Rank, and PBC before proceeding. Ennis might be a stumbling block if he delays, as he wants to fight a unification against one of the other champions to further his goal of becoming undisputed at 147.
Boots In?
If Boots follows Turki’s mini-tournament plan, he will delay his progress toward the undisputed chase for a year. He will not be able to continue working toward that goal if he defeats Teofimo in October and meets the Haney-Garcia 2 winner in February 2026. Boots would have put off working on his undisputed championship until mid-2026. He’d still be young, and he could accomplish it, but he would have to wait a little longer.
Predictably, Haney could be difficult to deal with if he decides he doesn’t like the idea of a losers bracket situation for February 2026. If Devin gets beaten by Ryan in October, which many fans expect, he might not be interested in fighting on the Ennis-Garcia undercard in early 2026 and likely facing Teofimo. Turki could persuade Haney and his dad, Bill, to go along with this plan if it pays.
Assuming Ennis goes along with Turki’s plans and there are no issues with the three promotional companies, Top Rank, Matchroom, and PBC, fans will see two huge cards in October and February. This is an addition to Turki’s May event at Times Square in New York. In that event, Ryan Garcia faces Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz, and Haney fights former WBC and WBO 140-lb champion Jose Ramirez.
