By Sean Jones: Triller wants the IBF to drop 135-lb mandatory challenger George Kambosos Jr. from their rankings after he failed to sign off to move the date of their October 4th event with undisputed lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez Jr. to October 16th.

The IBF still hasn’t made a ruling on the situation, which would greatly help matters. If the IBF does agree to drop Kambosos from their rankings, Teofimo could face #2 IBF Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz (22-1-1, 15 KOs).

However, it’s doubtful that ‘Pitbull’ Cruz would be able to step in at the last money to fight Teofimo on October 16th. Many boxing fans would likely be excited at seeing Teofimo take on Cruz, as that would be a real firefight from start to finish.

Kambosos Jr. doesn’t want to move off the October 4th date at Madison Square Garden in New York, as Triller requested. Teofimo has already signed off to move to the October 16th date, which Triller has for so that they could avoid competing against the Oakland Raiders vs. San Diego Chargers game on October 4th. Kambosos Jr. reportedly wants to be paid for the move by Triller, and thus far, they haven’t been willing to oblige him.

What a total mess-ter-piece the Teofimo vs. Kambosos Jr. fight has turned out to be. Suppose Teofimo Jr. had just vacated his IBF strap. In that case, all this could have been avoided, and he would have been able to take on the talents like Devin Haney, Vasily Lomachenko, Ryan Garcia, or Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis.

Instead, Teofimo has used up 11 months of his career trying to get the Kambosos Jr. fight out of the way, and from the looks of it, it WON’T be happening on October 16th.

When it happens is anyone’s guess. If the rights of the fight revert to Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, he could stage it in November, but it might not be the main event.

Hearn said in an interview recently that if he gets the rights to stage the Teofimo vs. Kambosos Jr. fight, he would possibly produce it in November.

IBF MANDATORY! WORLD NUMBER 1 ☝🏻 #AndNew pic.twitter.com/FjVlUUriTH

— George “Ferocious” Kambosos Jr (@georgekambosos) October 2, 2021

Not surprisingly, Hearn didn’t sound particularly excited when talking about the Teofimo -Kambosos Jr. fight, perhaps thinking that it would not create a lot of interest from fans.

It’s not that Teofimo isn’t a popular fighter. It’s more of a case of boxing fans in the U.S not being excited about Teofimo’s match-up with Kambosos. They want to see Teofimo give Lomachenko a rematch or take on Haney, Ryan, Tank Davis, or Josh Taylor.

“Triller, in an eight-page response, asked the IBF to rule on the Teofimo Lopez-George Kambosos matter by Sept. 30. The IBF hasn’t issued any ruling on the proposed date change, and Triller is asking them to drop Kambosos from the rankings and refund their $1.2 million deposit,” said @MikeCoppinger.

“The IBF earlier today asked for responses from both fighters. Triller said it has no plans to stage Lopez-Kambosos on Oct. 16 or any other date. Triller says it plans to still hold an event on Oct. 16 at Barclays Center.

“It’s looking increasingly likely that this fight isn’t happening with Triller and that the rights will revert to Eddie Hearn.