Teofimo Lopez v George Kambosos Jr. 27/11/2021

[TIC]

not betting the house on it but george could pull this off

[Master]

not betting the house on it but george could pull this off

He sounds very relaxed and humble but believes he can pull this off.

[Master]

Teofimo Lopez to snub Devin Haney undisputed fight to target Josh Taylor

Teofimo Lopez will target a showdown with undisputed 140lbs champion Josh Taylor over a planned lightweight tilt with Devin Haney.

Lopez will defend his lightweight titles against George Kambosos Jr this weekend, returning to the ring for the first time since dethroning Vasyl Lomachenko last year.

He was then expected to target long-time rival Haney providing he comes through his title defence against JoJo Diaz next month.

But his father Teofimo Lopez Sr expects him to make a switch up to 140lbs and expects Bob Arum to promote a colossal showdown with Taylor instead.

"We want Josh Taylor next," Lopez Sr said at a press event. "You heard that Josh, we want you next buddy and we want you bad.

"[Josh should] stop it with the bulls*** that we still got on settle business at 135 [pounds with Kambosos]. 135 is done!

"We are moving up to 140. We don't need a tune-up fight, we're coming straight for you buddy, so take the freaking fight.

"It's going to be big and we could do it where ever you want. Bob Arum's gonna make it happen in spring, so you better be ready."

Lopez has been called out by multiple opponents at lightweight including Gervonta Davis and Haney who both hold untarnished records.

And the 24-year-old confronted Haney at the event headlined by Mikey Garcia's shock defeat by Sandor Martin with the pair feuding in front of the cameras.

The pair initially agreed to face each other after their upcoming challenges against Kambosos and Diaz.

Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn also previously stated that he is planning to stage an undisputed clash after shaking hands to agree the fight with Lopez.

"I said to him tonight, ‘Teofimo Lopez will fight you.’ He said he won’t. I said, ‘I reckon he will.’ He said, ‘I’m telling you he won’t'," Hearn told DAZN News after the incident.

"And when he turned up tonight, someone shouted something and he went over and they got head-to-head. He said, ‘Look, I’m going to f*** you up.’ I said (to Haney and Lopez), ‘Guys, you are fighting on DAZN, which is great.

"Teo, you are fighting George Kambosos and Devin, you are hopefully fighting JoJo Diaz. It’s the week after each other. Let’s make the fight.' And then everybody started up and arguing for about 20 minutes.

"I said, ‘Guys, can we just get one thing clear to Teo’s dad: We want the fight.’ He (Lopez Sr.) said, ‘No, we want the fight.’ I said, ‘Well then, let’s stop arguing, get through our fights and get it made.’

"I know Devin will fight him and I do believe Teo will fight him. I think you will see that fight in spring of next year."

However Lopez Sr's latest comments will cast doubt on the undisputed tilt with Lopez preferring to pursue Scottish champion Taylor.

But Taylor will first need to complete his mandatory defence against domestic rival Jack Catterall on a rescheduled date in February next year.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/boxi...cid=entnewsntp

[TIC]

george has been winning the battle of the smack talk now he has to back it up in the ring

[Master]

Teofimo Lopez spent over $250,000 on camp for George Kambosos fight

Unified lightweight world champion Teofimo Lopez claims he spent more than a $250,000 to prepare for his bout with George Kambosos Jr.

The pair have been scheduled to fight since February when Kambosos was ordered as mandatory challenger for Lopez's first title defence since beating Vasily Lomachenko in October of last year.

But after a number of delays from their initial June date, including the bout moving from Triller to Eddie Hearn's Matchroom Boxing, the fight has taken the majority of this year to come to fruition.

And Lopez says that he has spent a massive chunk of his more than $3million purse on his camp.

"I spent a couple of thousand to make sure I took a test every day after I got Covid," Lopez told Mirror Fighting . "It took a whole month to finally get a negative test back.

"This camp? It's cost me about a quarter of a million dollars.

"We spend a lot of money doing what we do but it's my body so for me that's an investment, even though a lot of people don't see that."

Lopez claims that the amount he invests into his camps is the reason he doesn't wear flashy clothes or accessories.

He will earn a career-high purse of over $2.1million for his bout with Kambosos, as well as taking home $950,000 from Triller's deposit that was made prior to them defaulting on staging the fight.

"That's why I don't wear the jewellery," he continued. "The jewellery is being done in my body, rather than wearing diamonds.

"I spend that jewellery on my body, not that you don't want to be flashy, but yeah, I spent a quarter of a million on this camp."

The bout will take place at the Hulu Theatre in New York's Madison Square Garden, and despite the fact that all four governing bodies have belts on the line, it's not for the undisputed lightweight title.

Lopez insists he will be undisputed in the weight class should he win, but officially his rival Devin Haney is the WBC champion, while the New Yorker fights for the less recognised "franchise" title.

When Lomachenko was still champion of the division, he was elevated to "franchise" champion, which allowed Haney to be elevated from interim holder without a definitive title bout against the prior holder.

"This fight is for undisputed," Lopez insisted. "Did Devin Haney fight for his belt? No, back in the days, in boxing to become world champion you had to beat the guy, that is is a world champion.

"Devin Haney is not a world champion, Devin Haney is someone that is just holding something materially that is not an actual, true world title.

"This fight is undisputed, despite what any of them say."

Promoter Hearn, who also oversees Haney's career, disagrees with Lopez on what constitutes undisputed, claiming that a fight between the pair is needed to unify the division.

Haney's win over Zaur Abdullaev, at the same venue as this weekend's fight, was initially supposed to be for the interim title, but when Lomachenko was elevated, Haney was made champion, causing many a dispute amongst the division's contenders.

"He should be the undisputed champion, but he's not." Hearn explained to Mirror Fighting of Lopez's situation.

"The other governing bodies do not recognise the WBC franchise as a belt that you can unify with.

"So, in essence, he should be undisputed because he beat Lomachenko, but factually he's not and Devin Haney has the actual WBC title.

"That's the belt that the other governing bodies will allow you to unify with.

"So if you ask [WBC President] Mauricio Sulaiman, he'd tell you Lopez is undisputed, but other governing bodies would say 'no he's not, we don't recognise him as the undisputed world champion because he's not the WBC world champion.

"I've got to back my man Devin Haney and if Teofimo was my fighter, I'd probably call him undisputed."

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/boxi...cid=entnewsntp

[Master]

GEORGE KAMBOSOS JR is ready to steal a fight with Devin Haney from Teofimo Lopez - and wants to take it to a 90,000-seater stadium.

Australian Kambosos challenges for Lopez's unified WBA, IBF, WBO and WBC 'Franchise' lightweight titles over the weekend.

But the American champion has already verbally and publicly agreed to next year fight long-time rival Haney, who faces JoJo Diaz on December 5.

Kambosos, though, has other ideas, and vowed to dethrone Lopez and then unify the belts in an undisputed clash with Haney.

And he reckons Eddie Hearn, who has promoted five Anthony Joshua, 32, sell out stadium fights in the UK, is just the man put it together.

Kambosos, 28, told SunSport: "Me and Haney have been talking as well.


“We’ve been chatting, we have that mutual respect for each other and I’m in his corner to win his fight, I’m hoping he wins his fight.

“And he’s in my corner to win my fight, and you know what? We’re going to handle business and get it on.

“Whatever agreement the world thinks him and Lopez has, it’s not true. What makes more sense?

"And I know Eddie loves them big stadium fights, so it makes perfect sense."

Aussie Jeff Horn, 33, scored a shock upset against Manny Pacquiao, now 42, in 2017 in front of 50,000 at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.

But Kambosos, who beat Welshman Lee Selby, 34, to become Lopez's IBF mandatory, wants to almost double Horn's attendance with Haney.

He said: “There’s a better fight and a bigger fight in a stadium in Australia with 80,000 or 90,000 people.

“We all know Lopez isn’t a big seller, whatever he thinks he is, he isn’t. Instead of doing 20,000 people in the US, we can do 80,000-90,000 in Australia."

Lopez, 24, shot to stardom after shocking Vasiliy Lomachenko, 33, in October 2020 but was then ordered to defend his title against Kambosos.

They were initially set to meet on June 16, but Lopez withdrew after testing positive for coronavirus.

After several delays, social media platform Triller, who paid £4.5million to stage the fight, eventually pulled out of hosting it.

Hearn's Matchroom Boxing were the second highest bidders and took on the rights, but the drawn out delays have caused huge friction between the boxers.

So much so that Kambosos and Lopez's dad clashed at a media workout just days before the first bell sounds to finally settle the score.

But the travelling challenger has shown no sign of frustration, and claimed he will rule over Lopez and fellow stars Haney, 23, Gervonta Davis, 27 and Ryan Garcia,23.

Kambosos said: “I’m just focussed, I’m not worried about any of that. I know that when I win all the belts, I’ll stand on top.

“I’ll be the emperor, they say the ‘four kings’ - the emperor outweighs everything, he’s the guy that’s gone to different nations and that’s what I’ve been doing.

“I’ve been in the US, I beat their guys, I went to the UK and beat their top guy, I’ve gone all overseas and now I’m here to beat the top guy in the US.”

“For me, this is just business. I know there’s obviously been a lot of bad blood, he’s angry, which is great.

“I’m just super focussed, cool, calm and collected. Whatever anger he wants to bring to the fight, beautiful, bring it.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/16837...teofimo-lopez/

[Spicoli]

If there's a current poster boy for looking beyond an opponent Teo may be it. In the end I lean to him doing a number on Kambosos late on. But Kambosos is live.