Notebook: Lopez-Kambosos rescheduled yet again, this time with Matchroom in charge

Berlanga has surgery; WBC purse bids canceled; Spence-Ugas petition denied; Quick hits; Show and tell

Oct 21, 2021

Once again, the fight between unified lightweight world champion Teofimo Lopez and IBF mandatory challenger George Kambosos Jr. has been rescheduled.

This time it is due to take place on Nov. 27 in the main event of Matchroom Boxing card on DAZN at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Matchroom Boxing made the formal announcement on Wednesday, two weeks after it took over promotional rights to the bout when Triller Fight Club, which won the rights at a purse bid in February, defaulted on its $6.018 million offer after numerous delays, date changes and a last-ditch effort to move the fight from Madison Square Garden on Oct. 4 to Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Oct. 16.

The fight was initially scheduled for multiple dates in June before settling on June 19, but that was postponed because Lopez came down with Covid-19 a week before the fight, which led to numerous date changes through the summer and fall.

Once the IBF declared Triller in default, Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing, which was the under bidder at $3.506 million, had the option to promote the fight under its bid. Hearn elected to do so and quickly got the fight signed and the venue set.

“The time has finally come,” Lopez said. “It has been a long wait for Team Takeover. We’ve been in the zone for six months and counting but we’re pleased to be able to finally get this fight on DAZN. The Takeover will show the world once again why we are called ‘The People’s Champ.’”

Lopez (16-0, 12 KOs), 24, a Brooklyn native fighting out of Las Vegas, will be making his second defense and fighting for the first time since last Oct. 17, when he outpointed Vasiliy Lomachenko in a major upset to unify three major titles.

Kambosos (19-0, 10 KOs), 28, of Australia, has been idle since last Oct. 31, when he traveled to London and won a split decision over former featherweight titlist Lee Selby in a title eliminator to earn the shot at Lopez.

“It has been a long time coming,” Kambosos said. “I have been patient but ready and I have continued to perfect my craft, leaving no stone unturned to be victorious and win all the belts. I’m very excited to be headlining my biggest fight of my life on another great Matchroom card against Teofimo Lopez after earning this opportunity last year by becoming the IBF mandatory and world No. 1 on another great Matchroom show. I know they will give this fight the respect it deserves and I will shock the world and be crowned world champion on Nov. 27 in New York City.”

Hearn doesn’t promote either fighter — Lopez is with Top Rank and Kambosos with Lou DiBella — but the bout gives Hearn another notable fight for broadcast partner DAZN and an important fight in the loaded 135-pound division.

“I am delighted to be bringing Lopez versus Kambosos to DAZN and Madison Square Garden,” Hearn said. “This rivalry has been cooking for a long time and now we finally get to see them put it to bed in the Big Apple. Teofimo is one of the big young stars in the sport but George is a hungry proud Aussie who knows that this is the chance to put his name amongst the elite of the game.

“The lightweight division will catch fire once again at the end of 2021 with Devin Haney set to defend his WBC crown in December on DAZN after Teofimo and George tangle.”

Berlanga has biceps surgery

Big-hitting super middleweight prospect Edgar Berlanga underwent surgery on his torn left biceps on Wednesday in Stamford, Connecticut.

Dr. Paul Sethi performed an operation that was more complicated than anticipated, Berlanga manager Keith Connolly told Fight Freaks Unite.

“(The tear) was worse than they thought,” Connolly said. “It had torn and recoiled all the way up his arm, which is highly unusual. The 2½-hour surgery was supposed to be 1 hour. It was a harder surgery than doctor thought it would be.”

Still, Connolly said Berlanga is expected to return at 100 percent. The aim is for him to be back in the ring in March to headline a card in Puerto Rico. The injury has already cost him a planned Dec. 11 fight in Vasiliy Lomachenko’s co-feature at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Berlanga (18-0, 16 KOs), 24, a Puerto Rican from Brooklyn, New York, suffered the tear during the third round of a 10-round decision victory over former world title challenger Marcelo Esteban Coceres on the Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder III undercard on Oct. 9 in Las Vegas. Berlanga won 96-93 on all three scorecards but suffered the first knockdown of his career in the ninth round.

WBC purse bids called off

The WBC had three purse bids scheduled in the coming days but all of them have been canceled thanks to agreements made between the parties, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman told Fight Freaks Unite.

Bantamweight titleholder Nonito Donaire and interim titlist Reymart Gaballo have come to terms and will meet on a date and at a location to be determined. Donaire (41-6, 27 KOs) and unified champion Naoya Inoue (21-0, 18 KOs) had hoped to meet in a rematch of their 2019 fight of the year, but Donaire will instead meet Filipino countryman Gaballo (24-0, 20 KOs) next.

Also, featherweight titlist Gary Russell Jr. (31-1, 18 KOs) and mandatory challenger Mark Magsayo (23-0, 16 KOs) have come to terms. They are both with Premier Boxing Champions, so that deal was not hard to make. The fight likely will take place in early 2022.

A third fight, a featherweight title eliminator between Eduardo Ramirez (25-2-3, 12 KOs) and Lerato Dlamini (15-1, 7 KOs) to earn a shot at the Russell-Magsayo winner, will be delayed. Sulaiman said that because Dlamini faces Covi-19-related travel restrictions from his native South Africa, they have agreed to take interim bouts and fight the eliminator as soon as possible next year.

WBA denies Ugas petition

The WBA, sticking to its promise to reduce the number of titles it sanctions in each division, on Wednesday denied a petition from welterweight “super” titleholder Yordenis Ugas for an exception to his mandatory fight in order to face Errol Spence Jr. in a three-belt title unification bout.

The WBA said Ugas must instead next face mandatory challenger Eimantas Stanionis and gave them 30 days to negotiate the bout, which is part of a four-man box-off the WBA ordered to get down to one titleholder at 147 pounds. Ugas and his team strongly opposed, hoping to instead face Spence in a February unification fight. I wrote about the situation for World Boxing News. Please read the story with all the details here: https://www.worldboxingnews.net/2021/10/20/wba-yordenis-ugas-errol-spence/amp/

Quick hits

The Nevada State Athletic Commission put light heavyweight Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. on a retroactive three-year suspension during its monthly meeting Wednesday. It voted 5-0 to suspend the former middleweight titlist in relation to a drug testing violation from October 2019 that had not been resolved. Because it’s retroactive, the suspension goes through Oct. 24, 2022. It is supposed to be upheld throughout the United States, but likely would not stop him fighting in his home country of Mexico or elsewhere internationally. Chavez (52-6-1, 34 KOs), 35, was also fined $3,197.72 and must submit to commission-approved random drug testing in order for the suspension to be lifted. The initial issue arose when he refused to allow Voluntary Anti-Doping Association testers to collect his sample in October 2019 ahead of a planned fight with Daniel Jacobs in Las Vegas two months later. Matchroom Boxing instead moved the fight to Phoenix, where Chavez quit in the fifth round. He has fought three times since, going 1-2, all in Mexico.

Former four-division world titleholder Donnie Nietes, 39, one of the best fighters to come out of the Philippines, has signed with Probellum, the upstart promoter announced on Wednesday. Nietes (43-1-5, 23 KOs), who turned pro in 2003, has won world titles at junior bantamweight, flyweight, junior flyweight and strawweight. Nietes ended a 2½-year layoff in April to outpoint Pablo Carrillo in a 10-rounder in Dubai. “It's such a great pleasure to get this promotional contract with Probellum,” Nietes said. “I am so proud to be part of it, and I am looking forward to fighting again soon so that I can continue to show my boxing abilities and technique.”

The WBO held a purse bid on Wednesday for the fight between strawweight titlist Wilfredo “Bimbito” Mendez (16-1, 6 KOs), 24, of Puerto Rico, and mandatory challenger and fellow southpaw Masataka Taniguchi (14-3, 9 KOs), 27, of Japan, but there were no bidders despite representatives from both promoters, Spartan Boxing for Mendez and Watanabe Promotions for Taniguchi, attending the Zoom video conference. Since there were no bidders, the WBO said it would hold another purse bid Oct. 27 but would cut the minimum bid from $80,000 to $40,000. The split is 75-25 in favor of Mendez but could increase to 80-20 if the bout takes place in Japan.

Premier Boxing Champions will close 2021 with a card on Dec. 25 (Fox/Fox Deportes) — Christmas night — at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, a source with knowledge of the plans told Fight Freaks Unite. The plan is for welterweight Vito Mielnicki Jr. (9-1, 6 KOs), 19, a popular ticket seller from Roseland, New Jersey, to be on the main card aiming for a second win in a row following an upset eight-round majority decision loss to James Martin in April.

Show and tell

The first Mike Tyson fight I covered was his bout with fellow bad boy Andrew Golota at the Palace in Auburn Hills, Michigan. I remember it like yesterday, but not because it was a great fight. Far from it as Tyson dropped Golota in the first round and made him after the second round for a TKO, although the result was later changed to a no contest because Tyson tested positive for marijuana, which was a banned substance. I remember it so vividly because that fight week was the first I met and interviewed Tyson in what was an absolute disaster. I’ve told that story many times, but if you don’t know it click on this sentence. Tyson-Golota was on Oct. 20, 2000 — 21 years ago on Wednesday. The pay-per-view poster is quite common and easy to find, but here is a scarce site poster in my collection.

Berlanga photo: Edgar Berlanga Instagram

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