By Dan Ambrose: Teofimo Lopez made a big mistake that has hurt his career by choosing not to stay at 135 and rematch George Kambosos Jr. after losing to him last November.
Devin Haney took the risk that Teofimo was unwilling to take in fighting Kambosos last weekend in Melbourne, Australia, and making it look easy defeating him.
If Teofimo had agreed to rematch Kambosos, this could have been him last weekend winning an easy decision against the limited champion instead of Haney. Look at it this way.
A one-sided win or a knockout for Teofimo over Kambosos would have put him right back on top, and boxing fans would have forgiven him over his previous defeat.
Those fans would have believed Teofimo’s injury excuse for his loss last November instead of seeing it with a jaundiced eye.
Unfortunately for Teofimo, he didn’t try and avenge his loss to the Australian, and he let Haney be the one who exposed Kambosos as being a fluff fighter.
Haney’s one-sided 12-round unanimous decision win over four-belt champion Kambosos Jr (20-1, 10 KOs) last Saturday night has vaulted him to the top of the 135-lb division, putting him in position for big money fights against Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis, Ryan Garcia and Vasyl Lomachenko.
Should Teofimo have rematched Kambosos?
This should have been Teofimo’s fight rather than Haney’s, but Teo didn’t want it. Instead of doing the right thing, Teofimo bowed out, opting to move up to 140 to schedule a fight against the obscure Mexican journeyman Pedro Campa on August 13th in South Florida.
Choosing not to try and avenge the loss to Kambosos was bad enough, but for Teofimo to be fighting an obscure second-tier fighter in his debut at 140 against Campa, there are no words.
If you’re going to reject the idea of a rematch with Kambosos, you at least should be fighting a top-tier fighter in your next fight if you’re Teofimo.
In hindsight, Teofimo (16-1, 12 KOs) should have stayed at 135 and at least attempted to avenge his humiliating loss to the unheralded Kambososs because not doing so. It’s made him look weak in the eyes of the boxing world.
With that said, Teofimo had already looked by not giving Vasyl Lomachenko a rematch after his upset win over the three-belt champion in October 2020.
Teofimo, 24, would have made a lot of money Lomachenko again, and there would be far less of a backlash in losing to a great fighter like him than there was in getting beaten by a very average ham & egger Kambosos.
Teofimo Lopez
“S***, I’m not even watching it, but thanks for putting my name out, young buck!” said Teofimo Lopez last Saturday night, talking to Jake Paul.
Jake’s post:
“Teofimo is watching this, punching the air #KambososVsHaney.”
Teofimo comes across as bitter by saying that he wasn’t going to bother watching the Kambosos vs. Haney fight last Saturday. When Jake Paul made the above comment, Teofimo should have fired back, saying, ‘I want the winner.’
