Teofimo Lopez vs George Kambosos Jr. Moved again Third time lucky
Multiple sources informed The Ring late Wednesday evening that the unified lightweight and Ring Magazine world champion will not face mandatory challenger George Kambosos Jr. on August 14 as initially planned.
The Athletic’s Lance Pugmire was first to report that it is likely the fight gets moved to the September 11 Triller card featuring the return of former six-division world champion Oscar De La Hoya taking on mixed-martial arts star Vitor Belfort in an exhibition matchup.
The now-48-year-old De La Hoya has not competed since a December 6, 2008, eighth round TKO loss to Manny Pacquiao.
This marks the third time the Lopez-Kambosos fight has been postponed.
Both fighters were initially supposed to meet June 5 in a Triller Fight Club main event, at LoanDepot Park, in Miami, the home of the Miami Marlins. However, over a week later, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and YouTube star Logan Paul announced their exhibition for the following day at nearby Hard Rock Stadium, in Miami Gardens, where the Miami Dolphins play. As a result, fight organizers were forced to pick another date.
Their second choice was June 19, but that failed just days before Brooklyn’s Lopez and Australia’s Kambosos were finally set to square off when the American tested positive for COVID-19, infuriating Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, who ripped into his young fighter for apparently refusing to be vaccinated against the virus.
Just days before Lopez caught COVID-19, he and Top Rank agreed to a restructured contract. As part of the new deal, Lopez will have his minimum purses raised from the previous amount of $1.25 million and get the opportunity to earn more via pay-per-view bouts on ESPN+.
