By Sean Jones: Teofimo Lopez has reportedly tested positive for COVID 19, and his fight scheduled for this Saturday against George Kambosos Jr has been postponed until August 14th.
Triller founder Ryan Kavanaugh passed the news along to Mike Coppinger today. Teofimo, 23, tested positive for COVID earlier today on Tuesday and is “symptomatic.” As a result, Teofimo’s defense of his IBF/WBA/WBC Franchise/WBO lightweight titles against Kambosos Jr (19-0, 10 KOs) is being rescheduled for August 14th. The undercard is also being moved to that date.
The question is, did Teofimo get vaccinated for COVID 19? If not, why? Is Teofimo one of the anti-vaxxers, aka refusers?
Sean Jones will tell you that there are many anti-vaxxers out who want nothing to do with being vaccinated. It would be interesting to know if Teofimo is one of them.
You got to feel sorry for Kambosos Jr. All that work the 28-year-old Australian fighter put in to get ready for Saturday’s clash with Teofimo, it’s all wasted. Now, Kambosos will basically have to restart training camp and keep plugging along for another two months before he gets his chance to challenge for the straps.
If it turns out that Teofimo refused to be vaccinated, you can guess that Kambosos Jr will be hopping mad about it because he put in a lot of hard work for nothing.
That’s bad news for fans and particularly bad for WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney, who was hoping to fight Teofimo in 2021. According to Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, Teofimo’s wife is having a baby in November, and his cutoff date for what was supposed to be his second fight in 2021 was October 2nd.
With Teofimo now scheduled to fight Kambosos Jr on August 14th, he’s not going to be able to swing back less than two months later to fight Devin Haney on October 2nd.
Even if Teofimo destroys Kambosos Jr in one round on August 14th, he won’t be able to come back from that fight less than two months later to face Haney (26-0, 15 KOs).
BREAKING:@triller founder @RyanKavanaugh tells me Teofimo Lopez tested positive for COVID this morning after a PCR test and is symptomatic. As a result, his four-belt lightweight title fight vs. George Kambosos, set for Saturday, is being moved to Aug. 14, along with undercard,” said @MikeCoppinger.