Teofimo Lopez and his IBF mandatory George Kambosos Jr. are finally about to meet on October 5th at Madison Square Garden in New York. Triller has sent out contracts for both fighters to sign, and from there, they’ll meet in less than two months barring any unforeseen circumstances.
Teofimo, 24, had been scheduled to get his fight out of the way against Kambosos Jr. on June 19th, but then had to pull out of the contest after coming down with COVID-19.
The cost for fans to watch the Teofimo vs. Kambosos Jr. fight on FITE pay-per-view is $19.99. Considering that it’s a fight that isn’t viewed as PPV-worthy, it could be a tough sell for Triller.
If Triller adds a couple of interesting undercard fights the fans want to see, they might be willing to pay $19.99 for the card.
We’ve already seen IBF/WBA/WBC/WBO lightweight champion Teofimo (16-0, 12 KOs) pulled out of the previously scheduled date for the fight with the Asutralian Kambosos Jr. (19-0, 10 KOs) after coming down with COVID-19.
Triller boss Ryan Kavanaugh revealed to ESPN on Monday that the contracts have been sent to undisputed champion Teofimo and his IBF mandatory Kambosos for them to battle out October 5th on Triller PPV at the Hula Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.
“We’re really excited about it: Tuesday night boxing in New York,” Kavanaugh said to ESPN.
Hopefully, the tickets are snatched up by the New York boxing fans, as it’s not exactly a marketable fight. While Kambosos Jr. earned his IBF mandatory spot with a victory over Lee Selby by a 12 round split decision last October, he’s not well known to the casual boxing fans, and he’s viewed as the sacrificial lamb for Teofimo to slaughter in this fight.
With Teofimo having been out of the ring for 10 months, boxing fans want to see him take on Vasily Lomachenko in a rematch after beating him last October.
Even if Teofimo had to vacate his IBF title, fans would have preferred to see him face Lomachenko again.
It’s understandable why Teofimo chose to stick it out with the Kambosos Jr. fight because he’s getting a huge career-high $4 million payday for this match due to Triller winning the purse bid with a $6 million bid.
For the easy money Teofimo is getting for the Kambosos Jr. fight, it’s understandable why he’s choosing to see it through to the end.
Once this slam dunk gimme fight against the little-known Kambosos Jr is out of the way, it’s going to get a lot tougher for Teofimo, and he could be exposed as a one-hit-wonder when he faces Lomachenko in a rematch and is likely schooled by him.
By Triller sending out the contracts to Teofimo and Kambosos Jr, they beat the International Boxing Federation’s deadline of Tuesday.
You have to question the logic of scheduling the Teofimo vs. Kambososo Jr. fight on October 5th, which is four days before the FOX PPV trilogy match between WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and Deontay ‘Bronze Bomber’ Wilder on October 9th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Boxing fans won’t be eager to purchase two PPV events in the same week, particularly one of them is viewed as a mismatch between an obscure lightweight taking on a four-belt champion.
It’s a gamble on Triller’s part to schedule the Teofimo vs. Kambosos Jr fight during the same week as Fury vs. Wilder III, but they obviously would have problems no matter when they schedule that fight. Teofimo-Kambosos Jr. is just not a great one or even a good one.
Teofimo is returning to the same location at the MSG where he destroyed IBF lightweight champion Richard Commey in two rounds in 2019.
In Teofimo’s last fight, he defeated an injured WBA/WBC Franchise/WBO lightweight champion Vasily Lomachenko by a 12 round unanimous decision last year in October.
Assuming Teofimo wins this fight with Kambosos Jr on October 5th, he could face Lomachenko in a rematch in 2022. Lomachenko will need to win his potential December 11th fight against Richard Commey.
Kambosos Jr. earned his IBF mandatory spot with a 12 round split decision victory over former IBF featherweight champion Lee Selby last October.
For the fight against Teofimo, Kambosos Jr. will be getting over $2 million, which might be as good as it gets for him for the remainder of his career.
Deontay Wilder, the people’s champion. The anointed one. May god bless Deontay Wilder and his family as they put the power of the almighty before them to destroy the interloping intruders with their deceptive misrepresentations and misguided agendas.
Deontay Wilder is more impactful socially, politically and globally than Joe Lewis or Mohamed Ali. And. Now he has become a much better boxer than them as well.
I welcome just one word , one peep out of any critic.
Then October 9 the the Deontay Wilder vs Tyson is scheduled for the fourth time. I heard Deontay Wilder is going to dance, and he’s gonna dance.
October 5 the. These guys are some rough customers .
Look at the size of Teofimo’s traps and delts – obvious roids is obvious.