George Kambosos Jr. pulled off a miracle upset last Saturday night in defeating the undefeated phenom Teofimo Lopez to become the new IBF, WBA, WBC Franchise & WBO lightweight champion.
Due in part to Teofimo (16-1, 12 KOs) gassing out in the final two rounds, Kambosos (20-0, 10 KOs) was able to pull out a 12 round split decision.
Despite the win, Kambosos, 28, is now viewed by some as an easy target for the talented – non-injured and weight-drained – lightweights in the division. There’s an excellent chance that Kambosos is going to be a ‘One-hit wonder.’
Tank Davis = Biggest money fight for Kambosos
Given how vulnerable Kambosos is, he might be better off forgetting about fighting Devin Haney in unification instead of focusing on the biggest money fight he can get.
That would likely mean Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis. Haney is a good fighter, but his popularity is nowhere near the level of PPV star Tank Davis.
Kambosos shouldn’t take the fight with Haney unless he’s absolutely sure he can, and looking at his performance against Teofimo, it’s doubtful that he can.
Most would agree that Teofimo, 24, fought a poor fight, and his trainer Teofimo Sr. looked lost in his corner, more of a cheerleader than someone giving valuable instructions.
Teofimo couldn’t make adjustments during the rounds, and the instructions that he got from his dad in his corner, he failed to follow them.
Whether Teofimo indeed fought with an injured elbow is unknown, but what seems clear is he looked drained and not the fighter that had beaten Vasily Lomachenko last year.
Dangerous opponents for Kambosos:
- Vasily Lomachenko
- Devin Haney
- Ryan Garcia
- Richard Commey
- Joseph ‘JoJo’ Diaz Jr
- Jorge Linares
- Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz
- Michel Rivera
- Rolando Romero
There’s an excellent chance that most of those fighters would beat Kambosos, and it’s also possible that all of them would.
Former three-division world champion Vasily Lomachenko (15-2, 11 KOs) would likely embarrass Kambosos and possibly knock him out within four rounds if he didn’t quit.
“That’s the fight every day of the week, the real undisputed, let’s see it,” said Eddie Hearn to Boxing Social on Kambosos facing the winner of this Saturday’s fight between Devin Haney and Joseph Diaz Jr,
“Vegas, Sydney, wherever, George is a hero,” Hearn continued on Kambosos. “He’s a mega-star now, and everyone will want to fight him because they’ll think they can beat him. “Tank, Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney, but we’ll put the offer together,” said Hearn.
What Hearn says about “everyone” wanting to fight Kambosos is probably true.
What he showed against Teofimo was a style that would be easy to defeat by the top fighters in the lightweight division. Kambosos was using a watered-down version of Manny Pacquiao’s old style of fighting.
We saw the same in and out attacks the Filipino star used in the past and the combinations.
It worked against the lethargic, weight-drained Teofimo, but that style wouldn’t be a problem for the top guys at 135 that quickly make weight and aren’t dealing with a debilitating injury.
“Even if he wanted to have a little defense in Australia, you couldn’t say he doesn’t deserve it,” said Hearn. “But he changed his life tonight, but now he’s going to get what he deserves,” said Hearn on Kambosos.
“Imagine if I represented George Kambosos at that moment. I’m really jealous, actually. He’s going to want to make as much money as possible.
“I said in the build-up, he [Kambosos] would need to fight the fight of his life to win, and that’s what he did. He boxed the absolute fight of his life, and he refused to quit.
“In the first round, it was the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen,” said Hearn. “He got buzzed, and Teofimo looked like a monster. He came back and knocked Teofimo down.
“Teofimo came back, and George started controlling the middle part of the rounds. Then Teofimo came back in the fight in the eighth, ninth, and the tenth with a 10-8.
“I started to have it level, and then Kambosos won the 11th, and I had him winning the 12th as well. I think he won by two rounds. A draw, no, but Teofimo didn’t win that fight,” said Hearn.
