IBF/WBA/WBC Franchise/WBO lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez (16-0, 12 KOs) has tested positive for COVID 19 on Tuesday, and his fight with George Kambosos Jr has now been moved from this Saturday night on June 19th to August 14th on Triller PPV.
The 23-year-old Teofimo is symptomatic for COVID 19 and won’t be able to fight this Saturday. As a result, Teofimo’s fight with IBF mandatory George Kambosos Jr (19-0, 10 KOs), and the undercard will be moved to the August 14th date.
Teofimo vs. Kambosos was supposed to be taking place as the headliner on Triller PPV at the LoanDepot Park in Miami.
This is a real letdown for boxing fans looking forward to seeing Teofimo make his first defense of his four titles.
Teo won over many new fans with his 12 round decision win over Vasily Lomachenko last October. Although Teofimo had the chance to take bigger fights, he insisted on defending against his IBF mandatory Kambosos, but now he’s going to have to wait.
“We send our best to Teofimo and his family and hope they get well soon, and look forward to seeing this epic battle on August 14, 2021,” said Triller Fight Club co-founder Ryan Kavanaugh. Additional information on the rescheduled date including all musical acts and ticketing will be announced shortly.
Having the fight card rescheduled will likely hamper Teofimo’s efforts to set up a bigger clash on October 2nd. His promoter Bob Arum wanted to put together a rematch for him against Lomachenko on ESPN PPV for that date.
Teofimo has talked recently about wanting to fight WBC champion Devin Haney for the undisputed championship in October. That idea probably won’t pan out now that Teo’s fight with Kambosos being moved to August 14th. Teofimo will likely be done for the year when he faces Kambosos in August.
It’s too bad that Teofimo is now forced to devote so much time into making his defense against Kambosos, as this is a non-marquee fight that Top Rank hadn’t planned on putting on PPV. Teofimo forced a purse bid, and Triller Fight Club came in with the winning bid.
Even though it’s not a great fight, Triller plans on staging musical acts around the card. With the social media presence from the entertainers, their fans will help boost the PPV numbers for the fight. If not for that, Teofimo vs. Kambosos would likely bring in dismal numbers of buys.
Once Teofimo gets this fight over with, he needs to put his energy into facing guys that U.S boxing fans want to see him fight. Placing his fights against non-marquee opposition on PPV is bad news for Teofimo, as he’s stunting his career.