By Chris Williams: Trainer Teofimo Lopez Sr. predicts George Kambosos Jr. will lose his four lightweight titles in his upcoming June 5th fight against WBC 135-lb champion Devin Haney on June 5th in Melbourne, Australia.
Teofimo Sr. feels that Haney (27-0, 15 KOs) is too technically skilled for IBF/WBA/WBC Franchise/WBO lightweight champion Kambosos to deal with, and his short reign as a four-belt champ will end.
Four months after Teofimo Sr’s son Teo Jr. suffered a shock 12 round split decision loss at the hands of the huge underdog Kambosos on November 27th at New York’s Madison Square Garden, he’s still bitter about the experience.
Teofimo Sr. maintains that his son would have never lost to Kambosos, who he labels as a “dirty fighter“, if not for some health problems that he had on the night. He says Teofimo was forced to fight in a way that was alien to him because he couldn’t breathe, which put him in a position where he had to shoot for an early knockout.
The results saw Teofimo gas out after the first four rounds, allowing Kambosos to come on and dominate the contest in the second half to win a narrow 12 round split decision.
Teofimo Sr: “Kambosos is a dirty fighter
“Listen, Kambosos is a dirty fighter. Going into that fight, that wasn’t the plan that we had,” said Teofimo Lopez Sr. to Fighthype on Teofimo Jr’s loss to Kambosos Jr. last November.
“After the first round, my son couldn’t breathe and it’s like somebody shoots you twice. He had two holes in his body and he couldn’t breathe. Everybody knows what happened, and he [Teofimo] started to fight his [Kambosos] fight.
“You know my son don’t fight like that. We stay on the outside all the time. That wasn’t our game plan. I couldn’t coach him, he was uncoachable because he couldn’t breathe and couldn’t box. S***happens.
“I think Devin has him,” Teofimo Sr. said about Haney having the edge against Kambosos. “Devin is a great boxer and this guy is going to be short-lived.
“Kambosos is not going to hold those belts. In the first fight he has with a top contender, he’s going to lose. He’s a dirty fighter. With a fighter like that, we never fight going forward like that, aggressive like that because you get head-butted,” Teofimo Sr. said.
Teofimo Sr. could be right about Kambosos not holding onto his four lightweight titles for long. Even if Kambosos wasn’t battling a talented defensive artist like Haney, he would have a very difficult time against any of the top 10 level contenders.
It’s fair to say that Kambosos would lose to more than a handful of top contenders, which is why he and his promoter are making a massive mistake in choosing to face Haney rather than a beatable bottom feeder in the 135-lb weight class.
Kambosos’s victory over Teofimo Lopez seems to have done something to his ego, making him believe that he’s better than he is and that’s why he’s chosen to take the fight against Haney rather than playing it safe.
“My son had a big-a** slash and he had to commit because he couldn’t breathe,” said Teofimo Sr. “He just wanted to get him out of there. We stood at 135 for too long. Nine f**** years. I don’t want to name companies, but they screwed us up.
“They held us up for a whole year. We should have just let go of those belts in the 135-lb weight division after Lomachenko. He even fought Loma hurt.
“We didn’t even say anything about his elbow or his wrist because we’re not like that. We don’t make excuses when we have injuries like that. We make excuses when you don’t have any lungs because that’s what the sport is about.
“You can’t play basketball, soccer, or any sport without lungs. We almost lost him [Teofimo Jr]. I’m so happy that he’s still around. We’re going to do great. I’m still his coach, I’m always going to be his coach. He’s never going to leave me.
“I didn’t do nothing wrong in that fight [with Kambosos]. I was just a motivational coach that night because of his situation. We’re thinking about putting in an assistant coach to see what happens,” said Teofimo Sr.
Devin has his number
“We don’t know yet. I’m going to talk to my son about that,” said Teofimo Sr. when asked who Teo will be fighting next. “He needs rest right now. He has to have 10 days of rest until they take the stitches out, and after that, we’ll start to do some cardio.
“They told him that he can jump rope, he could shadowbox, he can run. We’re going to do all of that, and get ready and then in six to eight weeks from now, we’ll start sparring.
“What we always do. Stay on the outside and keep touching, that’s it,” said Teofimo Sr. when asked what advice he would give on how to beat Kambosos.
“That’s how we fight. We don’t commit until we start breaking you down, and that’s when we commit. That’s when we take you out of there. My son was just fighting like that because he couldn’t breathe.
“Everybody knows he doesn’t fight like that, but props to Kambosos. It was his night and he got lucky, but he’s going to be short-lived. Let him enjoy his belts, and he’s running around like a kid that has won his candy, he has his candy.
“I’m telling you, Devin has his number, Devin can beat him. Devin doesn’t commit. Devin stays to the outside, he boxes him and wins every round. So, I don’t see Kambosos beating anybody that’s high-level right now,” said Teofimo Sr.
Many boxing fans would agree with Teofimo Sr. about Haney having the right style to defeat Kambosos because it’s a terribly bad style match-up for the Australian fighter.
Kambosos is at his best when against aggressive fighters that come at him, considering he’s a counter puncher with excellent hand speed, and he’s quite good at landing sneaky shots that impress the judges.
“I just think we [Teofimo Jr] stayed at 135 too long,” continued Teofimo Sr. about his son, who was always huge for the lightweight division, having stayed in the weight class for too long.
“Cutting that weight was killing us. I’m just so happy that we’re going straight to a world title now at 140, and you’re hearing it from me right now.
“I’m never wrong. The only way we could lose is by health and coming at the end of May or the beginning of June, we’re going to start taking all the belts at 140. Once we do that, we’re moving up to 147.
“We don’t know who we’re fighting,” said Teofimo Sr. when asked if Teo will be battling unbeaten 140-lb contender Arnold Barboza for the the WBO light-welterweight belt.
“We’re fighting for a world title, so I think so, he could be a contender, so I don’t know. We got to sit down with Bob [Arum]. Right now what’s important is his health.
“The fans, I just got to tell you. They don’t know what he went through. He was in the ICU for four days, and we almost lost him. That’s just not going to happen again, do you know what I’m saying?
“You learn from your mistakes, and I’m just waiting for him to get all the titles at 140, that’s it,” said Teofimo Sr.
Seek & DESTROY 👹 pic.twitter.com/wre06HoKb7
— George “Ferocious” Kambosos Jr (@georgekambosos) March 28, 2022
