Lopez-Kambosos lightweight title saga finally comes to head 9 months later

Plus tons of notes: Makabu-Mchunu announced; Quick hits; more

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The nine-month saga of the fight between unified lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez and mandatory challenger George Kambosos Jr. is nearly over and it can’t come soon enough for Lopez.

“I’m ready to get this over with. I’m tired of this one fighter,” Lopez said this week. “It’s been nine months. Get this over with and focus on the bigger fights coming up.”

Indeed, it has been absurd wait for Lopez and Kambosos to get into the ring, which — knock on wood — will take place on Saturday (DAZN, 8 p.m. ET) in the main event of Matchroom Boxing card at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.

In the co-feature, South African southpaw Azinga Fuzile (15-1, 9 KOs) and Japan’s Kenichi Ogawa (25-1-1, 18 KOs) will fight for the vacant IBF junior lightweight title. The 130-pound belt has been vacant since February, when Joseph Diaz Jr. was overweight for a title defense against Russia’s Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov and stripped the day before they fought to a draw.

Getting Lopez-Kambosos to this point was not easy.

It was back on Feb. 25 when upstart promoter Triller shocked the boxing world at an IBF purse bid by placing the winning offer, an astonishing $6.018 million to easily beat the two other bids combined: $3.506 million from Matchroom Boxing and $2.315 million from Lopez promoter Top Rank.

Both sides celebrated the mega bid that would give Lopez’s side 65 percent ($3,911,700) and 35 percent to Kambosos’ side ($2,106,300). Both would be career-high paydays by millions.

However, numerous delays, date changes, site changes, lawsuit threats and IBF rulings later, the fight still had not taken place by October.

Triller originally scheduled it for June 5 at loanDepot Park in Miami before moving it later into June. About week before the fight Lopez came down with Covid-19, setting off a series of date and venue changes.

The last straw was Triller’s effort to move the fight from New York’s Madison Square Garden on Oct. 4 to Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Oct. 16. Lopez agreed, but Kambosos didn’t and, eventually, the IBF declared Triller in default of its winning bid. Matchroom Boxing’s Eddie Hearn, the under bidder, had the option to put on the fight under his bid and elected to do so. He doesn’t promote either fighter but saw the opportunity to grab a solid fight for his broadcaster, DAZN, and quickly got it signed, sealed and delivered.

Although each fighter will still earn a career-high purse, it will be less under Matchroom’s bid than Triller’s with Lopez’s side due $2,278,900 and Kambosos’ side getting $1,227,100.

Neither fighter has boxed since October 2020, when Kambosos (19-0, 10 KOs), 28, of Australia, outpointed former featherweight titlist Lee Selby in an IBF eliminator two weeks after Lopez (16-0, 12 KOs), 24, a Brooklyn native fighting out of Las Vegas, made his first defense by outpointing Vasiliy Lomachenko in an upset to unify his IBF belt with the Lomachenko’s WBO and WBA titles (as well as the WBC’s “franchise” belt).

Coming off such an enormous victory, Lopez was unable to capitalize, leaving him understandably frustrated.

“I shoulda just retired, thrown in the towel. Try something different,” Lopez said with a laugh. “For you guys it’s been a year. For me, as a fighter, it feels like five, 10 years (since I last fought). I definitely would have loved to have fought more this year. That’s what the goal was, to fight two to three times this year. But things happen. I got Covid. They postponed the fight numerous times. Now we’re here and I’m excited.

“I just look at it like this — 2022 is gonna be my best year; 2021 we’re at the end of it and I’m just looking forward to 2022.”

Lopez, who will be fighting for only the second time since winning the IBF belt in December 2019, said if he had known in February that it would take him nine months to take care of the mandatory with Kambosos he would not have stuck around the 135-pound division, where making weight has been daunting.

“I would have moved up to 140. I would have just dropped all these belts. This is ridiculous,” said Lopez, who blamed Kambosos for dragging things out even longer by not accepting the October date change. “I definitely would have dropped these belts. I know at this point I’m just looking forward to getting this fight over with and seeing what the future holds for me.”

When the fight first came up, Lopez and Kambosos had ample respect for each other. They had met a few years ago and taken photos with each other. They were competitors, but there was no bad blood. That has changed entirely given all the hard feelings in this drawn out process.

“I look forward to beating the hell out of George Kambosos,” Lopez said. “It’s personal. I don’t respect that guy. I don’t respect anybody that thinks they’re gonna come in here and walk all over me. You got to know your place. I knew my place when I fought Loma. I don’t respect Kambosos at all. I think he’s someone who things his thing don’t stink and he’ll have to find out the hard way come Saturday night.

“The only thing that worries me is whether he’s gonna be in that ring Saturday night. Nothing else worries me. Every fighter has game plans. They all come in there and everyone has a game plan until they get punched in the face, right? We’ll see what happens come Saturday night. We’re prepared for Kambosos coming to us forward, we’re prepared for Kambosos to try to box us, we’re prepared for him to try and throw overhand rights and uppercuts. We’re prepared for the whole 10, well, 12 rounds, but I’m just looking forward to it. I think it’s gonna be a quick night, though.”

How quick?

“I’m definitely looking for a big war in the first round to see what this guy can do and I don’t think it will go past the first to be honest with you. I’ve been stopping my sparring partners to the head, to the body,” Lopez said, noting they wear 16-ounce gloves in sparring. “I’m not even going full throttle. So, it’s like I’ve been in the gym and I’ve been busting my ass. This guy, I don’t like him on top of that. Plus, it’s a real fight; it’s not sparring. And it’s eight-ounce gloves. I’m praying for (the knockout) to be worse than the Mason Menard fight — I really am. And it was at the Hulu Theater.”

Lopez is referring to his extremely violent first-round knockout of Menard, who was rendered unconscious face first from a right hand in December 2018.

“He’s coming to KO me early? No problem. That’s what I want to do,” Kambosos said. “Victory by any means though. It would mean the world, all the sacrifice and hard work I’ve had to make, that’s what will make this special. It’s for my kids and the people around me, the belts are for them.”

Lopez said at this week’s final news conference, where his father and Kambosos’ father nearly came to blows, not to expect a handshake with Kambosos after the fight.

“After this fight, I don’t want to have no handshake, none of that,” Lopez said. “We’re gonna put your ass in a f------ stretcher.”

Next for the winner?

As much as Lopez has talked about Kambosos, he has also talked about the bigger fights he wants in 2022.

Kambosos, however, is not talking about much beyond Lopez.

“I don’t think about what’s next,” Kambosos said. “Ask Lopez. He thinks one million steps ahead. I’m focused only on him. We’ll see if (undisputed junior welterweight champion) Josh Taylor gives him a fight without him having any belts and coming off a loss to the Aussie.”

Lopez, however, has talked about moving up to challenge fellow Top Rank fighter Taylor at 140 pounds as well as others.

“I didn’t come here just to be the best pound-for-pound fighter and just sit on it. I don’t want to just sit on these belts,” Lopez said. “My belts are getting dusty over here. They need to feel that energy again along with me, so I’m definitely looking forward to fighting more times next year. My contract says I fight three times next year, so we’re just going to get this over with and at the same time just put on a show for DAZN and Matchroom.”

Lopez’s dream fight is to challenge Scotland’s Taylor (18-0, 13 KOs) for 140-pound crown, assuming Taylor wins a mandatory defense against Jack Catterall on Feb. 26. Lopez also mentioned secondary lightweight and junior welterweight titlist Gervonta Davis (25-0, 24 KOs), who defends his lightweight belt against Isaac Cruz on Dec. 5, and WBC lightweight titlist Devin Haney (26-0, 15 KOs), who defends his title against Joseph Diaz Jr. on Dec. 4.

“Definitely Josh Taylor. I’ve been telling people about it for some time,” Lopez said. “We can definitely make the fight happen in the U.K. I look forward to doing something like that. I know they talking about Gervonta Davis. That would be a great fight at 140. People been talking about Devin Haney. We’ll see what happens there. Those are three fights that come into play.”

Makabu defense

Promoter Don King announced Friday that WBC cruiserweight titlist Ilunga Makabu (28-2, 25 KOs), 34, of Congo, will make his mandatory defense against Thabiso Mchunu (23-5, 13 KOs), 33, a southpaw from South Africa, on Jan. 29 at W.D. Packard Music Hall in Warren, Ohio.

Heavyweight Jonathan Guidry (17-0-2, 10 KOs), 32, of Dulac, Louisiana, is due to face Alonzo Butler (34-3-2, 25 KOs), 42, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, in a 10-round undercard fight.

No broadcast plans were announced.

Undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez asked for and received permission at the recent WBC convention to challenge Makabu, for whom he would move up to weight classes, in May or June, so boxing’s pound-for-pound king figures to be paying close attention to the fight.

King claimed in his announcement that Alvarez will be in attendance.

Makabu, who will be making his second title defense, owns an 11th-round knockout victory over Mchunu in a May 2015 nontitle bout.

Quick hits

Weights from Las Vegas for the Premier Boxing Champions tripleheader on Showtime on Saturday (10 p.m. ET) at the Park MGM: Brandon Figueroa 121.75 pounds, Stephen Fulton Jr. 121.75 (WBC/WBO junior featherweight unification); Ra’eese Aleem 121.75, Eduardo Baez 121.5; Gary Antonio Russell 117.5, Alexandro Santiago 118.

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Weights from New York for the Matchroom Boxing card on DAZN on Saturday (8 p.m. ET) at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden: Teofimo Lopez 135 pounds, George Kambosos Jr. 134.4 (for Lopez’s unified lightweight title); Azinga Fuzile 129.6, Kenichi Ogawa 129.4 (for vacant IBF junior lightweight title); Raymond Ford 126, Felix Caraballo 125.4; Zhilei Zhang 274, Craig Lewis 273.4; Ramla Ali 122.2, Isela Vera 121; Christina Cruz 111.6, Maryguenn Vellinga 110.8; Anthony Herrera 118, Jonathan Herrera 115.4.

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A junior middleweight fight between Jessie Vargas and Liam Smith in the works for early next year is ticketed for Jan. 29 (DAZN) in Las Vegas, likely at The Cosmopolitan, a source with knowledge of the plans told Fight Freaks Unite. Vargas (29-3-2, 11 KOs), 32 of Las Vegas, a former junior welterweight and welterweight world titlist, who is running for the U.S. House of Representatives in Nevada’s 4th Congressional District, has not boxed since a decision loss to Mikey Garcia in a February 2020 welterweight fight. Smith (30-3-1, 17 KOs), 33, a former junior middleweight titlist, is coming off an impressive eighth-round knockout of Anthony Fowler on Oct. 9 in their hometown of Liverpool, England.

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Welterweight prospect Reshat Mati (11-0, 7 KOs), 23, of Staten Island, New York, had his eight-round fight against Nicolas Pablo Demario (15-5-3, 9 KOs), 27, of Argentina, canceled on Friday by the New York State Athletic Commission when Demario failed a pre-fight MRI exam. The bout was scheduled for the Teofimo Lopez-George Kambosos undercard.

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Muhammad Waseem (11-1, 8 KOs), 34, a former title challenger from Pakistan, outpointed Rober Barrera (23-3, 13 KOs), 29, of Colombia, in a WBA flyweight title eliminator Friday at Motospace Dubai Investment Park in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Waseem won 117-111, 115-114 and 115-113 to position himself as the next mandatory challenger for titlist Artem Dalakian. Also: former super middleweight and light heavyweight titlist Badou Jack (25-3-3, 15 KOs), 38, of Las Vegas, dropped Samuel Crossed (11-2-1, 7 KOs), 34, of Greenbelt, Maryland, three times in the second round for a knockout in their cruiserweight bout; junior welterweight Ohara Davies (23-2, 16 KOs), 29, of England, cruised to a decision 99-91 decision on all three scorecards against short-notice foe Nicholas Mwangi (10-4-1, 7 KOs), 34, a Kenya native fighting out of the UAE; and former secondary super middleweight titlist Rocky Fielding (29-2, 17 KOs), 34, of England, returned from a two-year layoff to drop Emmanuel Danso (32-7, 26 KOs), 32, of Ghana, in the second round before he retired on his stool after the round in their light heavyweight fight.

Show and tell

Winky Wright was a two-time junior middleweight world titlist and became the undisputed 154-pound champion when he outpointed Shane Mosley in their first fight to unify the division in March 2004. He beat Mosley again in an immediate rematch eight months later and was a regular a on the pound-for-pound list. Before Mosley gave him a shot at a big fight, Wright, who was defensive-minded southpaw with no economic clout, was the most avoided the fighter in the sport. After the Mosley fights, Wright went on to have other major fights, including a shocking rout of Felix Trinidad at middleweight, a disputed draw with Jermain Taylor for the unified middleweight title, a decision win over Ike Quartey and decision losses to Bernard Hopkins (at light heavyweight), Paul Williams and Peter Quillin. Wright, who fought all over the world before establishing himself, finished his career 51-6-1 with 25 KOs and was inducted into the International Hall of Famer in 2018. I always enjoyed interviewing and covering Wright, who celebrated his 50th birthday on Friday. Here is a poster in my collection from one of his biggest fights, the dominating 2005 victory against Trinidad.

Lopez-Kambosos photo: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom Boxing; Lopez photo: Melina Pizano/Matchroom Boxing; Figueroa-Fulton photo: Esther Lin/Showtime

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