By Huck Allen: George Kambosos Jr. says IBF/WBA/WBC Franchise/WBO lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez doesn’t deserve to be a world champion because he’s fake, and he can’t wait to defeat him on October 4th to take titles.
Teofimo vs. Kambosos Jr. will be taking place next month on Triller pay-per-view at the Hula Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Kambosos (19-0, 10 KOs) has been forced to wait since early this summer due to Teofimo (16-0, 12 KOs) coming down with COVID-19, forcing the postponement of their June 19th.
In Kambosos’ mind, Teofimo, 24, is a superficial champion, a guy more focused on bragging about himself and lapping up the compliments of his sycophants over his biggest career win last October against an injured Vasily Lomachenko.
Rather than getting back in the ring to prove himself as a true world champion, Teofimo has been sitting inactive, enjoying the adulation he’s been receiving over his now year-old victory over Lomachenko.
In some boxing fans’ eyes, Teofimo is showing signs of a fighter that is afraid to get back on the horse to keep proving himself.
Teofimo is so stuck in the past, reliving the glory from his win over Lomachenko, that he’s hesitant to get back to work. He’s got an older person’s approach to his career, and it’s keeping him from getting back to work.
Kambosos ready to do anything to beat Teofimo
“I’m going to beat this guy by any means necessary,” Kambosos said to the Sydney Morning Herald. “It’s been a long time coming, and I don’t see any way he can beat me. They talk about certain aspects of his game, but my game is better all around,” said Kambosos.
The guy that had the best success against Teofimo was Masayoshi Nakatani, who gave him fits with the pressure that he put on him in their fight in 2019.
Nakatani arguably deserved the win, but the judges gave the A-side fighter Teofimo a wide 12 round unanimous decision. The scores didn’t match the fight, and the judges were heavily criticized afterward.
Kambosos Jr. will have to put it on Teofimo if he wants to win a decision because he’s facing a famous fighter, and it may prove to be challenging to win a decision against him.
“I don’t think he deserves to be a champion,” Kambosos Jr. said about Teofimo. “He takes it for granted, and he laps it up too much, wants to show off too much. He’s not a true champ, and the fans see that.”
A lot of boxing fans were less than impressed with Teofimo’s win over Lomachenko last October. They noticed how Teofimo collapsed from the pressure that Lomachenko was putting on him in the second half of the fight.
What’s disappointing is how reluctant Teofimo has been about giving Lomachenko a rematch, giving fans different excuses for why he doesn’t want to fight him again. It’s transparently clear that Teofimo doesn’t fancy his chances of beating Lomachenko a second time.
“A lot of fans see his fakeness. He needs a big wake-up call, he needs to be humbled, and I’m coming to do that,” said Kambosos of Teofimo.