By Allan Fox: The IBF has ordered undisputed lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez and his IBF mandatory George Kambosos Jr. to be vaccinated for Covid-19 ahead of their fight on October 5th at Madison Square Garden in New York.

IBF/WBA/WBC Franchise/WBO lightweight champ Teofimo (16-0, 12 KOs) and Kambosos Jr. (19-0, 10 KOs) have until early next month on September 7th to receive their respective vaccinations for Covid-19 for their October 5th fight on Triller Fight Club PPV.

Interestingly, Teofimo, 24, has already had Covid-19, catching it last June, resulting in his fight with Kambosos Jr. needing to be moved off the June 19th date it had been scheduled for in Miami, Florida.

The illness caused many problems for Triller Fight Club, as the company had a ton of musical artists that were booked for the June 19th date.

Kambosos Jr, 28, naturally wasn’t overjoyed with the fight being moved because he’d gone through an entire training camp and was ready to go.

It’s unclear why Teofimo hadn’t been vaccinated for COVID-19, considering how much money he was getting with his $3.9 million+ payday. You would think with that kind of money, Teofimo would have gotten vaccinated to ensure that he didn’t miss out.

“We signed a contract saying he’ll be vaccinated,” Teofimo’s manager David McWater said to ESPN on Thursday. “The IBF ruled he has to have a shot by the 7th. He’s the IBF champ. He’s going to comply.”

Hopefully, nothing else goes wrong that could get in the way of this fight taking place on October 5th because both fighters need to get this out of the way.

For Kambosos, he wants to beat Teofimo and move on to bigger fights rather than wasting time.

If Kambosos Jr beats Teofimo, he can then take on Vasily Lomachenko or anyone for that matter at 135. He would be the guy with all the belts at 135.

A logical fight for Kambosos would be a match against WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney, who has the real belt with the World Boxing Council.

If Teofimo wins, he can look to set up a rematch with Vasily Lomachenko. Unfortunately, it’s probably too late for Teofimo to face Lomachenko in December, but it’s a fight that is perfect for early 2022.

Teofimo defeated Lomachenko last year in October in a huge upset that rattled the boxing world. Lomachenko has been trying to get a rematch ever since, but it was only recently that Teofimo showed interest in fighting him again.

With Teofimo quickly outgrowing the 135-lb division, he must fight Lomachenko while he still can because he’s not going to get this fight if he moves up to 140 or 147.

Given how big Teofimo already is, he arguably should already be fighting at 140 at the minimum, if not 147. He’s huge for a lightweight, which gives him an advantage against true 135-pounders.