By Sean Jones: George Kambosos Jr says he sees early signs of Teofimo Lopez mentally breaking apart bit by bit during the meetings between the two as they promote their June 5th right on Triller pay-per-view.
In their press conference earlier this week, IBF/WBA/WBC Franchise/WBO lightweight champion Teofimo (16-0, 12 KOs) constantly fidgeted, showing signs of nervousness when Kambosos was speaking.
The self-assured manner that the slightly older 27-year-old Kambosos showed clearly unnerved the 23-year-old Teofimo. We’ve seen fighters fall apart mentally when their opponents show bravery to stand up to them.
I just never thought it would be Teofimo, even though he was falling apart mentally against the one-armed Vasily Lomachenko when he began taking the fight to him last October.
The New Yorker Teofimo isn’t accustomed to his opponents showing the kind of confidence and bravado that we witnessed from Kambosos Jr, and one could tell that he was a nervous wreck.
Teofimo will be putting three of his titles up for grabs when he defends against his IBF mandatory Kambosos (19-0, 10 KOs) at the Marlins Stadium in Miami, Florida.
Although Teofimo has four titles, he’s not the undisputed champion at 135 because his WBC Franchise belt is more of a popularity trinket and not the real title.
Devin Haney holds the WBC lightweight title, and he’s been trying to get Teofimo to fight him without any luck.
Kambosos sees Teofimo mentally crumbling
“Triller is doing a fantastic job and they showcased tonight, and June 5th is going to be even bigger,” said Kambosos Jr to Fighthub about his fight with Teofimo.
“It’s the undisputed championship on the line, it’s a real fight with two young, hungry guys ready to go at each other.
It didn’t stop [training] because I knew this fight was going to happen. I saw it in my head just like I saw that I was going to win this fight and the belts, it’s there.
We saw the way the whole press conference went. I’m breaking this kid bit by bit. I saw him react like this but, man.
“After yesterday’s press conference, I was up one-nil. But after tonight, I’m up five-nil.
“I never get annoyed. I’m cool, calm, and collected. As you saw yesterday at the press conference. He got annoyed, he got frustrated,” Kambosos Jr said.
If Kambosos Jr keeps breaking Teofimo down slowly in the next month, he may be little more than a mental basket case by the time they step foot inside the ring on June 5th.
The way that Teofimo was interrupting, laughing nervously, showed he was falling apart. Teofimo extremely nervous and under emotional distress.
At the point where Teofimo ripped off his shirt and started walking towards Kambosos, he couldn’t handle the verbal jousting from the Australian.
Teofimo handlers might want to have someone with him on stage during the next press conference because maybe he’ll be able to take the verbal slings and arrows thrown his way by Kambosos.
George on Teofimo: I’m living in his head rent-free
“He took his shirt off. Who told him to take his shirt off?” said Kambosos Jr about Teofimo. “He took his shirt off, and he had all these dots all over his body.
“He looked like a pepperoni pizza. I know that’s cupping, I know what it is, but if you’re going to do cupping, don’t take your shirt off. This is the way I am. He could see the confidence.
“He could see I’m coming to fight. I got no fear of this kid. I don’t even call him a guy the way he carries on.
“Everything he says, it doesn’t make sense. It’s like he’s trying to fluke it. But everything I say is pinpoint. Man, I’ve had everyone around me.
“So many people in the world say, ‘Mentally, you got him. He’s already, you’re already under his skin.
“I’m living in his head rent-free already. This is going to be huge. Miami in Marlin park, it’s going to be massive.
“The musicians that they’re going to have, the influencers, and all the different famous people, sporting stars, legends of the sport.
“They’re all coming to one and that just creates so many eyes on the sport. It’s fantastic,” said Kambosos Jr.
It does appear that Kambosos Jr has gotten to Teofimo 100%, and it’s likely to get worse as we roll into May.
