Teofimo Lopez vs. George Kambosos planned for June 12th in New York City

By Boxing News - 02/06/2021 - Comments

By Jeff Aronow: Top Rank wants to scheduled the Teofimo Lopez vs. George Kambosos Jr fight for New York City on June 12th on the eve of the Purto Rican Day Parade.

Dan Rafael is reporting the news on Top Rank’s plans for the undisputed lightweight champion Lopez’s defense against his IBF mandatory Kambosos Jr (19-0, 10 KOs).

Top Rank is no longer interested in bringing the Lopez vs. Kambosos fight to Australia as they had originally hoped t do. It’s possible that the travel restrictions right now have made traveling to Australia untenable for the time being due to the pandemic.

IBF/WBA/WBC/WBO lightweight champion Teofimo (16-0, 12 KOs) wants to take care of this mandatory against the 27-year-old Australian Kambosos Jr so that he’s not stripped by the International Boxing Federation.

They’re strict about their champions needing to make mandatory defenses on time.

Image: Teofimo Lopez vs. George Kambosos planned for June 12th in New York City

Teofimo, 23, and Top Rank seem to be on a different page when it comes to him fighting at 135.

While Teofimo is saying he wants to fight the ‘Four Kings’ [Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney, and Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis], his promoter Bob Arum is stating that he only has two fights left at 135 against Kambosos and either Ryan Garcia or Haney

After those two fights, Arum wants Teofimo to move up to 140 to face the winner of the May fight between Josh Taylor and Jose Ramirez.

Kambosos Jr earned the IBF position with his 12 round split decision win over former IBF featherweight champion Lee Selby last October. It was a tooth & nail bout, but Kambosos edged it based on his harder, cleaner landing shots.

But the performance wasn’t the type that would give fans worry about Teofimo losing to Kambosos Jr. He looks like a good fighter, but a step below fighters that Teofimo has beaten in the past.

Richard Commey, Vasily Lomachenko, and Masayoshi Nakatani, three recent opponents for Teofimo, are all fighting at a higher level than Kambosos Jr.

“Whoever put that list together is a Teofimo-hater,” said Teofimo to Fighthype when asked to rate the ‘Four Kings’ at 135 “There can only be one King in the lightweight division, and I showed that, Teofimo Lopez.”

Image: Teofimo Lopez vs. George Kambosos planned for June 12th in New York City

Teofimo is seen as the #1 guy by hardcore boxing fans, but his position is still shaky. He didn’t look good in the last half of his fight against an injured Lomachenko last October, and that was against a fighter with one healthy arm.

Since Teofimo isn’t interested in giving Lomachenko a rematch, the two main guys that pose a threat to beating him are Gervonta Davis and Haney. Ryan Garcia’s recent fight against Luke Campbell showed that he’s not advanced enough for him to have a serious chance of beating a polished lightweight like Teofimo at this time