Notebook: IBF mandates Lopez, Kambosos must get vaccinated ahead of title fight
Berlanga's plans; Hrgovic returns; Andrade pokes Charlo; more
Once again, the IBF has had to step in to smooth things over in an effort to get the fight between unified lightweight world champion Teofimo Lopez and mandatory challenger George Kambosos Jr. set by ordering both boxers to get vaccinated against Covid-19 before the bout.
IBF president Daryl J. Peoples on Thursday sent a letter to both camps, a copy of which was obtained by Fight Freaks Unite, in which he told the sides “the IBF will not require either participant or their ‘teams’ to undergo ‘regular coronavirus testing,’ but then he added, “By way of this letter the IBF is directing Teofimo Lopez and George Kambosos to be fully vaccinated prior to their bout tentatively scheduled for October 5, 2021. The IBF encourages both teams to provide the IBF with fully executed contracts as soon as possible.”
Triller Fight Club plans to stage the bout on Oct. 5 — a Tuesday — as a pay-per-view main event from the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.
The IBF’s intervention to mandate that both fighters are vaccinated comes after it previously had to step in and rule that Triller could not place the bout in a location that required travelers to be quarantined. Triller wanted to put the fight in Kambosos’ home country of Australia, which would have required Lopez and his team to quarantine for 14 days.
Lopez’s camp complained to the IBF because it said forcing a fighter in the midst of training and trying to make weight into a two-week quarantine was untenable.
Lopez’s team said it no had objection to fighting anywhere in the world as long as there was no quarantine. Triller toyed with the idea of trying to place the bout in the United Arab Emirates but has settled on New York, where it kicked off what is supposed to be a monthly series of Tuesday night cards at the Theater on Aug. 3.
The coronavirus has been a flash point as it relates the fight because Lopez came down with Covid-19 a week before it was scheduled to headline a pay-per-view on June 19 at loanDepot Park, the home stadium of Major League Baseball’s Miami Marlins.
Because of Lopez’s medical situation, the card was postponed, costing Triller millions of dollars it had already laid out for the event and paydays for numerous fighters scheduled to fight on the show.
Neither Lopez nor Kambosos had been vaccinated, although now they apparently will have to be.
Kambosos promoter Lou DiBella told Fight Freaks Unite he had no problem with the IBF’s ruling.
“I have no issue with that kind of mandate,” DiBella said. “I understand it and in this environment it’s sensible, especially when you’re the company (Triller) that won the purse bid and probably lost $5 million by virtue of Lopez’s positive Covid test. But it goes beyond that. There was a New York City regulation interpreted by the New York State Athletic Commission that the New York mayor put in — a regulation that said for sports where the athletes are in contact with other athletes, that if you don’t have the vaccine then you need to be six feet apart at all times from whoever you’re competing with, and you cant do that in boxing.”
Triller shocked everyone when it won the promotional rights at a purse by blowing away the rest of the bidders with an offer of $6.018 million, a number so big that it beat the two other bids combined — an offer of $3.506 million from Matchroom Boxing, which was bidding in conjunction with streaming service DAZN and DiBella, and $2.315 million offered by Lopez promoter Top Rank.
Lopez is entitled to 65 percent of the money ($3,911,700), although he must pay Top Rank 20 percent ($782,340). Kambosos is entitled to 35 percent ($2,106,300) minus a roughly a double-digit cut to DiBella. Both will receive career-high purses.
Lopez (16-0, 12 KOs), 24, of Las Vegas, won the IBF 135-pound title by second-round knockout of Richard Commey in December 2019 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
In his next fight, Lopez scored the biggest win of his career when he upset Vasiliy Lomachenko by unanimous decision – 119-109, 117-111 and 116-112 -- to unify titles last Oct. 17. Lopez not only retained the IBF belt but also took Lomachenko’s WBO/WBA titles and the WBC’s so-called “franchise” title.
Kambosos (19-0, 10 KOs), 28, outpointed former featherweight world titlist Lee Selby in London in a title eliminator on Oct. 31 to earn the mandatory shot against Lopez.
Berlanga foe in place
In late July, Top Rank chairman Bob Arum told Fight Freaks Unite that a four-fight plan was in the works for prized super middleweight prospect Edgar Berlanga.
First up, Berlanga would fight on the Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder III undercard on Oct. 9 in Las Vegas on ESPN in the final network-televised bout before the start of the joint ESPN/Fox pay-per-view telecast.
Now that fight is set. Berlanga (17-0, 16 KOs), 24, of Brooklyn, New York, who has knocked out every opponent in the first round except for in his most recent bout in April, will face former world title challenger Marcelo Esteban Coceres (30-2-1, 16 KOs), 30, of Argentina, a source with knowledge of the match told Fight Freaks Unite on Thursday.
Coceres has been stopped just once, in the 11th round challenging then-WBO 168-pound titlist Billy Joe Saunders for a belt in November 2019 in Los Angeles, and represents a step up in competition for Berlanga.
The rest of Arum’s plan for Berlanga, should he continue to win, would mean boxing in the co-feature of a Vasiliy Lomachenko-headlined show at Madison Square Garden in New York on Dec. 11; a fight in Puerto Rico, where Berlanga’s family is from, targeted for March; and then a return to Madison Square Garden to headline on the weekend of the annual Puerto Rican Day parade in June.
Plant on Canelo deal
Super middleweight world titleholder Caleb Plant may have hit the boxing lottery when unified champion Canelo Alvarez selected him as his next opponent but to Plant the job is far from done.
He will be there to win the undisputed title on Nov. 6 in Las Vegas, not just to show up and get paid a career-high guaranteed purse reportedly of $10 million.
“It’s a big fight, it’s a big opportunity and I’m happy I was able to land it, but the job’s not over,” Plant told a small group of reporters on press row during the Manny Pacquiao-Yordenis Ugas fight on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena. “I’m not celebrating. I don’t want congratulations. I don’t want people to be happy for me. Give me that congratulations after the fight.”
I was one of those reporters who spoke to Plant at Pacquiao-Ugas, where he discussed how he expects to pull a huge upset, his mindset when it appeared as though the fight had fallen apart and would not be able to happen on the target date of Sept. 18, and how he will be able to handle the media crush before the biggest fight of his career.
Please read the story I wrote for World Boxing News here: https://www.worldboxingnews.net/2021/08/26/caleb-plant-canelo-chances/
Heavyweight Hrgovic back in action
Heavyweight up-and-comer Philip Hrgovic, a 2016 Olympic bronze medalist from Croatia, will end a 10-month layoff when he faces Marko Radonjic in a regional title defense that will headline a card on Sept.10 (DAZN) at Wörthersee Stadium in Klagenfurt, Austria, Matchroom Boxing and Wasserman Boxing announced on Thursday.
The 29-year-old Hrgovic (12-0, 10 KOs) has not fought since becoming the first man to stop veteran Rydell Booker, doing so in the fifth round of a one-sided fight this past November in Hollywood, Florida.
“I have a lot of respect for Radonjic for taking this fight when many wouldn’t,” Hrgovic said. “I’m excited to box at the Wörthersee Stadium. I expect a lot of Croatians to travel to support me and I look forward to fighting in front of the Austrian fans too. Radonjic has a good record. He has won all his fights by knockout, but he has never fought anyone like me. On Sept. 10, he will feel my power and the ‘Montenegro Hammer’ will fall.”
Hrgovic was supposed to face Michael Hunter in an IBF title elimination fight that Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, Hrgovic’s co-promoter, won the promotional rights to at a purse bid for $606,666 in May. However, Hunter withdrew.
Now, Hrgovic will face Radonjic (22-0, 22 KOs), 31, of Montenegro, who has a glossy record built against horrendous opposition.
“Filip Hrgovic is a great fighter and I’m really looking forward to fighting him,” Radonjic said. “It will be an exciting fight between two big punching heavyweights. I know Hrgovic is a good boxer but I’m confident I can beat him. The ‘Montenegro Hammer’ is coming to win.”
Hearn has been frustrated trying to secure a top opponent for Hrgovic.
“Filip Hrgovic is one of the most avoided men in the heavyweight division and finding an opponent with the courage to step in the ring with him has been a challenge,” Hearn said. “Virtually the whole of the IBF top 15 turned down the opportunity to face him in a final eliminator.”
Andrade ribs Charlo
Middleweight world titleholder Demetrius Andrade (30-0, 18 KOs), who has been seeking a major fight, gave fellow titleholder Jermall Charlo (32-0, 22 KOs) the business on Thursday. He took a humorous shot on Twitter at Charlo, who on Wednesday was arrested on three counts of second-degree robbery stemming from an alleged dispute over payment of his tab with a waitress on July 16 at a San Antonio bar. Keep in mind, Charlo once turned down a $7 million offer from Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn to come to DAZN on one-fight deal to face Andrade in a unification fight.
Quick hits
The Nov. 13 Showtime card headlined by former super middleweight titlists David Benavidez and Jose Uzcategui in a title eliminator, with junior middleweight Jose Benavidez Jr. against Francisco Emanuel Torres in the co-feature, at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, the hometown of the Benavidez brothers, will also include a third televised bout. That bout likely will involve up-and-coming junior welterweight Gary Antuanne Russell (14-0, 14 KOs), a 2016 U.S. Olympian and younger brother of featherweight titlist Gary Russell Jr., a source with knowledge of the plans told Fight Freaks Unite.
WBC junior flyweight titlist Kenshiro Teraji (18-0, 10 KOs), 29, of Japan, has come down with Covid-19 and his ninth defense scheduled against countryman Masamichi Yabuki (12-3, 11 KOs), 29, on Sept. 10 the Kyoto City Gymnasium in Kyoto, Japan, was postponed on Thursday, Shinsei Promotions announced. Teraji is in quarantine at his home with mild symptoms.
The New York State Boxing Hall of Fame induction dinner, originally slated for April 19, 2020 but postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, has been rescheduled for Sept. 19 at Russo’s On The Bay in Howard Beach, New York. The 28-member Class of 2020 will be honored at the ninth induction dinner. Living boxers in the induction class are light heavyweight title challenger Jorge Ahumada, former junior lightweight champion Alfredo Escalera, junior lightweight titlist challenger Freddie Liberatore, former middleweight titlist and four-time New York Golden Gloves winner Dennis Milton, former heavyweight contender and two-time New York Golden Gloves winner Lou Savarese and former super middleweight title challenger Merqui Sosa.
Show and tell
Longtime pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather announced his retirement after easily retaining his unified welterweight title against Andre Berto in the final fight of his Showtime contract in September 2015. Mayweather walked away 49-0 and having won world titles in five divisions from junior lightweight to junior middleweight. But the lure of a mega fight — and an easy one to boot — brought him back to the ring one more time. If Mayweather was the face of boxing, Conor McGregor was the face of MMA and its most popular fighter. He wanted to cross over to the boxing ring to fight Mayweather, who could not resist the chance to make an absurdly easy nine-figure payday. And so the fight was made and the public went crazy for it as they compressed the promotion for the Showtime PPV fight into about 2½ months. They met on Aug. 26, 2017 — four years ago on Thursday — at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas in what turned out to be the second-highest grossing fight of all time, behind only Mayweather’s showdown with Manny Pacquiao in 2015. Many thought Mayweather carried McGregor just to put on a good show, but in the end, he dominated and knocked McGregor out in the 10th round of a one-sided fight and then retired again at 50-0, save for two exhibitions in the ensuing years. Here is one of eight different official posters for the fight in my collection. This is the one I consider the key site poster.
A note to subscribers
I sincerely appreciate your interest and readership and have been overwhelmed by the growth of the newsletter since I began publishing it in January. If you’re reading, it means you love boxing just like I do. If you’ve been reading you also know the quality and quantity of what I produce. It’s one-stop shopping. Read the newsletters and there is no need to search multiple websites or click a multitude of links to get the news. Everything you need is in one spot and delivered directly to your inbox. You don’t have to hunt for the news, it comes to you.
I believe that is worth something, so while I will continue to provide some stories, notes and the schedule for free, I encourage you to upgrade to a paid subscription for the most content. A paid subscription is your way of keeping this reader-supported newsletter going and supporting independent journalism. I am beholden to no network, promoter, manager, sanctioning body or fighter. If you have read my work at all during the past 20-plus years I’ve covered professional boxing you know that I keep it real and that will not change.
To upgrade your subscription please go here: https://danrafael.substack.com/subscribe?
Thank you so much for your support of Fight Freaks Unite!
Lopez photo: Tom Hogan/Triller Fight Club; Berlanga photo: Mikey Williams/Top Rank
Kambo - Lopez have to take a few jabs before the fight can happen hummmm. Wonder if either camp will object or if there are any side effects(from jabs) have to postpone the fight until things clear up I mean why not this fight was Mandatory that turned into a lame story for a long time now. But with no fights being on we get this and what else oh yea Charlo rips off a Texas waitress bc he knew he would get away with it as usual. Hope she gets a decent tip from Charlo's lawyers if they settle out of court bet it will cost more then the meal ticket. Anyone sick of not getting any real fights to talk about ? Football Baseball play-offs gearing up and boxing gives there fans what ? NADA