By Michael Lieberman: Undisputed lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez and George Kambosos Jr’s team are waiting for the ruling by the IBF for them to decide whether Triller has defaulted on their purse bid due to their decision to move the date of the fight from October 4th to October 16th.
Kambosos is asking the International Boxing Federation to find Triller in default because they’ve opted to move the fight to October 16th. ESPN states that Kambosos wants more than $300,000+ to agree to move the battle from October 4th to the 16th, and Triller isn’t going to accommodate him on that request.
The uncertainty surrounding the Teofimo-Kambosos fight hurts fans’ interest because they don’t know if the match will be happening.
Triller is putting the event on pay-per-view, meaning that they must get Kambosos Jr. to sign off as soon as possible to move to the October 16th date.
Lopez & Kambosos teams waiting on ruling from IBF on if Triller purse bid will be defaulted and as of Thursday night there is no deal with Kambosos for the fight, which is supposed to be in 16 days. No tix on sale & uncertainty from undercard fighters about the event. Utter mess.
— Dan Rafael (@DanRafael1) October 1, 2021
“I make of it someone is scared, they talk a lot, and now they’re starting to see that they’ve got pay the price for it,” said Teofimo to Behind The Gloves in reacting to Kambosos not signing off to move the date of fight from October 4th to October 16th.
Teofimo says he could fight substitute on Oct.16th
“He loses the biggest payday of his career,” said Teofimo on what happens if Kambosos fails to sign off to move the date. “He loses the biggest opportunity of his lifetime.
“You’re asking for 300K more when you’re getting two million dollars for this fight. Not only that, you’re getting a chance of a lifetime to be displayed on national television where millions of people are going to watch you, and you get to fight for all the titles in one shot.
“For me, we’re still going to fight. October 16th is still going to happen. It’s that we would have to get a substitute. Teofimo is going to be fighting. We’re not here trying to deny it for everybody. We’re not trying to ask for extra money.
“Now, my intent is not only to hurt this guy but to make him think twice about ever putting on another pair of gloves again,” said Teofimo of Kambosos.
“I think with him doing all that; I think he’s trying to find a way out. Triller didn’t pay me to go out there and change the date [of the fight].
“I’m just changing so that instead of fighting on a Monday with Monday Night Football, that’s a tough competition alone right there because it’s the Raiders against the Chargers. I’m here to break Kambosos’ face,” said Teofimo.
If Teofimo fights a replacement opponent on October 16th, that will hurt the PPV sales even worse unless it’s someone that the fans are familiar with.
With a little over two weeks to go before the October 16th date, the chances of Teofimo getting a quality substitute are minimal.
