Teofimo Lopez v George Kambosos fight still getting little dog treatment
It was just revealed through ESPN that WBA super, WBO and IBF world lightweight champion Teofimo “Take Over” Lopez (16-0, 12 KO’s) was dealt another blow to his ego. This is because his upcoming bout with “Ferocious” George Kambosos (19-0, 10 KO’s) will likely be scheduled on October 5. October 5 falls on a Tuesday. This is a tremendous let down for Lopez, who has been screaming from the mountain tops that he is a megastar and soon-to-be pay-per-view phenomenon. Unfortunately for him, reality is not co-signing these statements.
To begin, the main reason that the bout is being moved to such an obscure and undesirable date is not to conflict with another bout. WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury is looking to face Deontay Wilder on October 9. Clearly, the money men at Triller are not trying to go head-to-head with the notable event. This was also the case when Triller scrapped their June 5 date so as not to conflict with the Floyd Mayweather Jr v Logan Paul exhibition. Looking on the bright side, at least Lopez is getting beaten out by an actual boxing match this time!
STILL RIDING THE PINE?!?!
The Take Over is not new to contradictory statements or consistently shifting narratives. Initially when it was learned that Lopez would face Ferocious, the Brooklyn native was adamant that he was open to fighting in Australia. The unified champion stated it’d be worth the trip to dance in front of the teeming foreign audience. Yet, when the Mayweather dustup put the hurt on his fight date, Lopez changed his tune in an awful hurry. Suddenly he felt that such a venture was more trouble than it was worth.
More notoriously, Lopez has been endlessly insisting that he is the undisputed champion of the 135-pound division. This is despite the fact that Devin “The Dream” Haney holds the legitimate WBC world lightweight title. Going a step further, outside of the WBC sanctioning body, zero of the major sanctioning bodies recognize Lopez’s WBC “Franchise title” nor his fictitious status as an undisputed champion. Hell, on their own site, even the WBC has Haney as their 135-pound champion. Even worse, Lopez himself admitted in round-about fashion that he understands that he is not recognized. He pulled that off by publicly airing his displeasure of the situation through his social media.
STOP FAKING THE FUNK
While speaking on the topic of Devin Haney, Lopez’s opinion has changed more violently than a schizophrenic’s mood ring. One minute he insists that Haney is a great fight and he understands that the people want to see it. Then, quicker than cotton candy can melt in an angry dragons’ mouth, he’s pretending that The Dream is no big deal. In all honesty it’s all very sad and frustrating.
Ideally, Lopez’s marginalized importance in the grand scheme of things will serve to motivate him. Hopefully, he will realize that he does have more work to do to actually be the awesome force in the sport that he professes to be right now. If so, provided he is successful with George Kambosos, then logically he would finally face Haney to legitimately make history rather than just lie about it. Yet, in the end, we will just have to wait and see how the Take Over plays his hands. No matter what he does though, 3kingsboxing will be there to report the aftermath.
By: Bakari Simpson
