By Jim Calfa: George Kambosos Jr says he’s unaffected by a year of inactivity going into tonight’s title challenge against lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez in the headliner on DAZN.
The 28-year-old Australian Kambosos Jr. (19-0, 10 KOs) last saw action in October 2020, beating former IBF super featherweight champion Lee Selby in an International Boxing Federation 135-lb title eliminator in London, England.
Despite being a sizable underdog, Kambosos insists that he’s going to “feast” on the younger, stronger, faster Teofimo (16-0, 12 KOs) tonight when the two meet at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Teofimo is coming off a career-best victory in defeating the highly respected Vasily ‘Hi-Tech’ Lomachenko by a 12 round unanimous decision in a massive upset on October 17th, 2020.
Kambosos denies he’s dealing with ring rust
“The ring rust will be on him. No ring rust here,” said Kambosos to Kristal Hart when asked if he’ll be rusty from 13 months of inactivity since his last fight in October 2020.
“We have been nonstop in the gym, sparring over 200 rounds if not more against killers against junior middleweights against guys that punch like bulls,” said Kambosos.
It’s going to be hard for Kambosos to win this fight if Teofimo puts in the same kind of performance as he did in his battles against Lomachenko and Richard Commey.
That version of Teofimo may be invincible at 135, particularly against a non-puncher like Kambosos, who depends on volume-punching to win.
“We are ready, fully prepared; there is no ring rust for me,” said Kambosos. “People forget that the Lee Selby fight took a long battle to make as well.
“We had COVID hit right in the middle of it, and that dragged out for a long time. I came out with the best performance of my life,” Kambosos said about his close 12 round split decision win over 34-year-old Selby.
“Ask the boxing fans,” said Kambosos on his thoughts on Triller postponing his fight with Teofimo a couple of times. “How many dates? Imagine how we felt as fighters,” Kambosos said.
George says he’ll “feast” on Teofimo
“As much as I want to take this guy’s [Teofimo] head off, it’s disrespectful to him and me because we’re preparing for a certain date, and they want to change it again? Give this fight to a promotion that is going to do the right job,” said Kambosos.
“I’m here focused with Matchroom [Boxing], and they’re going to put on a hell of a show. When I sign a contract, that’s the date that I prepare for.
“There is no Thanksgiving,” said Kambosos. “Saturday is my Thanksgiving for all the hard work I put in, and that is my Thanksgiving. Then I get to feast on this kid [Teofimo] and take all his belts.
“That’s my Thanksgiving, but I don’t celebrate anything. I don’t even celebrate my birthday,” said Kambosos.
It’s going to be risky for Kambosos if he tries to carry out his threat of taking Teofimo’s head off tonight, but we’ll see. Perhaps, Teofimo will be negatively impacted by the year-long layoff and his struggles to get down to the 135-lb weigh-in limit for the fight.
