By Sean Jones: Former unified lightweight champion George Kambosos Jr is offering Teofimo Lopez the opportunity to fight him in a rematch in Australia or Greece so that he can attempt to avenge his loss from two years ago in November 2021.
It’s unlikely that Teofimo will take Kambosos (20-2, 10 KOs) up on his offer, as he’s retired from the game after growing disillusioned due to him not receiving the kind of money he feels he deserves to be getting.
Kambosos, 30, says Teofimo will be back when he burns through his money and has no choice but to return. For Teofimo’s sake, that needs to happen sooner rather than later because the longer he waits, the more likely his physical skills will erode beyond the point of return.
Once that happens, he can forget about making the big money he could have made had he stuck with it after his recent win over WBO light welterweight champion Josh Taylor on June 10th.
Interestingly, the Aussie Kambosos hasn’t won a fight in two years since his upset win over Teofimo in 2021, and he’ll be looking to end his two-fight losing streak against IBO lightweight champion Maxi Hughes 26-5-2, 10 KOs) next month on July 22 on ESPN at the Firelake Arena in Shawnee, Oklahoma.
Kambosos recently signed with Top Rank, and they’ll be looking to turn his career around, beginning with his fight against the 33-year-old Hughes next month.
Besides Teofimo, Kambosos Jr wants to fight Vasyl Lomachenko, Gervonta Davis, Shakur Stevenson, and Ryan Garcia.
For those fights to happen, he will need to put together some wins over quality opposition a lot better than Hughes and some of the guys he’d beaten to get the title shot against Tefoimo in 2021.
Kambosos can’t drag out Lee Selby or Mickey Bey again, hoping wins over those fighters will lure Tank Davis, Ryan, or Lomachenko into fighting him.
“I want to be world champion again, and I will b world champion,” said George Kambosos Jr to Little Giant Boxing. “A mega-fight between Lomachenko and myself in Greece would be huge.
“It was a good performance. Josh Taylor, I feel, gave him too much respect. Maybe the weight was a little too hard at that stage. He gave him too much respect,” Kambosos Jr about Teofimo Lopez’s recent win over WBO light welterweight champion Josh Taylor.
“He boxed well and picked his shots, and he was able to land. I think he’ll be back,” said Kambosos Jr when asked about his thoughts on Teofimo retiring after his win over Taylor.
“He’ll be back. He talks about the money he was getting paid, and he needs more money and wants $100 million, which is never going to happen,” said Kambosos about Teofimo. “Not even heavyweights get that kind of money. He’s not going to get that.
“When the money dries up, he’ll definitely be back. Inside the ring, it’ll never be peace between me and him. It’ll always be war. If he wants to do it again, I’ll see him again.
“I beat him. I took his belts and beat him fair & square. If he wants to get it done and it makes sense, maybe he can come over to Australia. I went to his backyard, or we can do it in Greece or somewhere else. Yeah, we can do it.
“I took that W. I’m in no rush to fight him again. I didn’t lose to him. I beat him. When Devin Haney beat me, I wanted a rematch straight away. I said, ‘Give it to me’ the next day. That’s the kind of fighter I am.
“It’s up to him [Teofimo] and his team. If they want it and start to push for it, then we can talk,” said Kambosos.
