Teofimo Lopez vs. George Kambosos Jr purse bid on Feb.18th

By Boxing News - 02/09/2021 - Comments

By Sean Jones:  Teofimo Lopez and his IBF mandatory George Kambosos Jr are going to a purse bid scheduled on February 18th.

According to Dan Rafael, the promoters for the undisputed lightweight champion Teofimo (16-0, 12 KOs) at Top Rank haven’t been able to agree to his purse for the fight.

It’s unknown how much Teofimo, 23, asks to defend against the little known Kambosos Jr (19-0, 10 KOs). But if it’s anything close to the $10 million that he wanted to face WBC champion Devin Haney, it’s not all that surprising that Bob Arum of Top Rank is letting it go a purse bid.

The purse bid can be averted if Teofimo and Kambosos Jr’s promoters can reach a deal before February 18th. Teofimo will get a 65/35 split for the winning purse bid.

With that said, if the bid is far less than what Teofimo is hoping to get for his purse, he’ll have a decision to make. Does he go through with the fight and make less than what he wanted, or does he refuse and give up his IBF lightweight title?

Image: Teofimo Lopez vs. George Kambosos Jr purse bid on Feb.18th

Teofimo can’t reject the results of the purse bid and keep his IBF belt. Giving up the belt would mean that Teofimo can have Top Rank start negotiations with WBC champion Haney for a unification, which is a far better fight.

If Teo wants to keep the momentum going from his last match against Lomacheko, he’ll deposit the IBF title in the nearest trash bin and focus on what’s important.

Unfortunately, all the belts won’t be on the line in that scenario, but it’s a match that will pay better than his title defense against Kambosos Jr.

Arum not worried about losing the purse bid

“We haven’t been able to reach a deal for whatever reason, and this is NOT a marquee fight,” Arum said to Fight Freaks Unite about Teofimo’s defense against Kambosos.

“If somebody outbids us, it’s fine. I don’t care,” Arum continued. “It’s fine. We get a percentage from Lopez, depending on the bid. That’s the deal.

“Every promoter has that in their contract. And so be it. The fight will happen. Somebody will buy it [with a winning bid],” said Arum about the Lopez vs. Kambosos Jr purse bid.

You can see where Arum is coming from in letting the Teofimo – Kambosos Jr fight go to a purse bid. There likely won’t be any fans for this fight unless Arum schedules it in the summertime, and even then, who knows.

We are still in the middle of the worse pandemic since the 1918 Spanish Flu. It’s ridiculous for any fighter to ask for a boatload of dough unless their names are Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury.

With their heavyweight clash, a foreign country is expected to come up with a huge site fee that will give them additional money on top of the pay-per-view loot they’ll be getting. Teofimo vs. Kambosos Jr is NOT a pay-per-view fight in the U.S.

Teofimo needs to come down in his asking price and not put himself in a position where he will miss out on fights because he’s asking for too high of a purse for the situation.

The New Yorker Teofimo is NOT a superstar, and it doesn’t make sense for him to be asking for a King’s ransom for a low-level fight against Kambosos.

Kambosos almost lost his last fight

The Australian is lucky he’s even in the mandatory spot because his recent 12 round split decision victory over Lee Selby in an IBF title eliminator last October is one that could have gone either way.

YouTube video

This writer had Selby winning the fight, which tells you a lot about Kambosos’ qualifications as an opponent for Teofimo.

Arum probably wouldn’t make any money off the Teofimo – Kambosos Jr fight, so you sympathize with him in choosing not to lose dough on the match by giving Lopez what he wants for his purse.

Teofimo still isn’t a big star despite having recently picked up a couple of quality wins against Vasily Lomachenko and Richard Commey.

It’s going to take more time for Teofimo to become a superstar, and he’s got to fight better opposition. If that means giving up his IBF title, he should think about that.

The mandatory defenses for four titles will eat up a lot of time in Teofimo’s career and slow his progress to becoming a star.

It works against a young fighter to hold more than one title because they’re forced to make defenses against opposition that bring nothing to the table.

Teofimo might think he’s gaining by holding four titles instead of one. Still, he’s losing out in the long run because he’s wasting valuable time in his career dealing with mandatory defenses.

Teofimo should vacate IBF

It’s better for young fighters trying to become stars to look at titles like fish in a lake. You catch and release. That way, you’ll always have a chance to beat the different champions to make more money and then vacate the belt right away to go after another title.

Older fighters need to hold many titles because they can make a lot of easy defenses against the mediocre mandatory challengers.

Image: Teofimo Lopez vs. George Kambosos Jr purse bid on Feb.18th

The aging champions are better off holding as many titles as possible because they can preserve their careers against the weak mandatory challengers. Look at Canelo Alvarez.

He’s about to make a defense against his WBC mandatory Avni Yildirim. If Canelo is successful in becoming the undisputed champion at 168, he might be able to hold onto those belts into his 40s.

Obviously, if boxing worked right, you’d have title eliminators involving only the best contenders rather than between obscure fighters with little talent.