Triller’s hopes to hold the Teofimo Lopez vs George Kambosos Jr fight in Australia are off the table, as the IBF have ruled that the bout must take place in a location that does not require quarantine.
Contracts are due by Aug. 24, with the fight to take place no later than Oct. 17.
The New Jersey-based sanctioning body declared that the current timeline will remain intact and with Triller Fight Club to still take the lead per the original purse bid terms.
However, the defending champion Lopez is no longer required to travel abroad—or anywhere that leaves him subject to a 14-day quarantine period—in order to honour said agreement.
“The Lopez vs. Kambosos bout must take place on or before October 17, 2021 and the bout must take place in a location and venue that does not require quarantine.”
Triller pulled a stunner by winning the purse bid for the IBF-ordered bout in February, but nothing has gone right with their plan since then.
Triller won the auction, with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Sport coming in second with $3.506 million and Top Rank third at $2.315 million. Lopez, 24, is set to earn a career-high $3.912 million; he made $1.35 million for the Lomachenko bout. Kambosos, 28, is due to make $2.106 million, also a career-best payday.
They intended to hold the fight on June 5 in Miami, but pushed that back two weeks in order to avoid the Floyd Mayweather-Logan Paul exhibition on June 6 in Miami.
Lopez then tested positive for COVID, so the June 19 date was scrapped. Aug. 14 was another date set, then there was talk of doing it on Sept. 11. Neither came through. The latest plan was Oct. 17 in Australia, which Team Lopez objected to and may not have actually gone through with in the first place.
